Last evening, the weekly issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) was released. The NEJM is one of the most prestigious medical journals published. Its weekly editorial is most often focused on some medical issue - cancer research, discoveries in immunology, new cardiac surgery techniques, etc. Occasionally, the editorial will discuss a political policy like health care for all in the U.S., children's safety around firearms or some other topic that is less directly scientifically oriented. This week the Journal came out strongly in support of marriage equality, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to find in favor of same-sex marriage.
For more on their opinion and the case that then make, come below the orange medical diploma curlicue.
The authors of the editorial do a brief review of the state of marriage equality in America. Then they discuss the inequalities in health care that affect the LGBT community and some of the reasons behind those inequalities.
In most of the world, including the United States, there has been a long, sad history of mistreatment of homosexuals and misunderstanding of homosexuality, a normal expression of human sexuality. This mistreatment has ranged from disrespect to ridicule, from ostracizing to genocide. Medicine and psychiatry once saw homosexuality as deviant behavior and produced many baseless, foolish theories to explain it. Until 1987, it was included (albeit increasingly less prominently) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. And there are still health care providers who offer ways to “treat” homosexuality as if it were an illness.
They make a case that marriage equality will promote better health for LGBT citizens.
http://www.nejm.org/... But they go beyond that and also mention problems that LGBT people have with making health care decisions for a partner. The authors state that talking about serious issues like end-of-life care with a partner is different from having that same discussion with a spouse. They also discuss the social and legal differences that are seen when same-sex couples can't be married. How this non-status can affect not only the couples themselves but the couples' children, the children's health care, shared property, government benefits and other issues.
The authors also take a swipe at an unnamed governor who signed legislation that made it possible to discriminate against gays. And how, after a huge public outcry, he got his comeupPence.
They conclude:
Same-sex marriage should be accepted both as a matter of justice and as a measure that promotes health. Marriage as an institution is about stable, long-term relationships, which we know encourage health, reduce the risk of some diseases, and promote healthy families.
This is a cogent and very supportive article that makes an excellent case for marriage equality, addressing many important issues. It will probably be read by 40,000+ physicians and researchers just in the online version alone. It's well worth the 5 minutes it will take to read. It would also be worthwhile to take a few additional minutes to read the linked article on LGBT health care (linked above and free.)
Here's the link to the editorial (free): http://www.nejm.org/...
The New England Journal of Medicine, April 22rd, 2015. Drazen, J., et al. In Support of Same-Sex Marriage