Homophobic Attitudes Could Negatively Impact the Health of LGBTQ People

Homophobic attitudes of society could impair the health of LGBTQ people, says a recent study.

June is celebrated as the LGBT pride month to strive for equal rights for the community members. Yet, the widely prevalent homophobic attitude maintains a taboo around this topic leading to inadequate knowledge about the LGBTQ people and denying their rights.

Researchers now say that homophobic attitudes create negative impacts on the cardiovascular and endocrine mechanisms among sexual minorities.

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‘Physical and emotional stress influence the secretion of cortisol in the body. Salivary cortisol levels in LGB people showed a significant increase among the people who received antigay comments.’

"By exposing study participants to minority stress and then observing objective physiological changes in real-time, our study draws a direct line connecting homophobia with physiological stress among sexual minorities," said David M. Huebner, PhD., lead author of the ground-breaking study.

How was the study conducted?

The study conducted by experts from the American psychological association examined 141 lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the age group 18 to 58. The participants were divided into two groups and believed to have discussions with real people but were originally interviewed by a pre-recorded confederate.

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One group received antigay comments, whereas the other group had positive comments regarding the LGBTQ community. The researchers also measured the blood pressure and cortisol levels of the participants throughout the study.

After all the assessments, the team observed that,

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• Task-related increases in heart rate and blood pressure occurred among all the participants.

• Significant increases in cortisol levels and a decrease in the heart rate variability were observed in the people who received antigay comments.

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The study findings show that the homophobic attitude of society could potentially impair the health of LGB individuals. The author emphasized the importance of having proper knowledge about the LGBTQ community and said, "The fact is that experiencing discrimination, or even the threat of discrimination, is harmful for people's health. So, as a society, it's critical that we enact policies and laws that protect people from that kind of discrimination."

Source-Medindia