Study: Teen LGB Suicides Dropped Thanks To Marriage Equality

(image via Youth OUTright)

According to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics today, marriage equality has been linked to decreases in teenage suicide.

In studying suicide among high school students over 17 years, researchers found suicide attempts fell 7% for all high school students.

But, in states that legalized same-sex marriage before the June 2015 Obergefell Supreme Court ruling, suicide among LGB students dropped 14%. States that did not adopt marriage equality saw no change in the statistics.

Suicide ranks 10th in causes of death in the United States, but much higher (number 2) for young people age 10-24. But the numbers are much higher for those students who identify as LGB.

About 1 in 7 heterosexual students (15%) had seriously considered suicide compared to more than 2 in 5 lesbian, gay and bisexual students (43%).

(source)