A study in Denmark and Sweden before and after same sex marriage was legalized has revealed that while overall suicide rates have fallen since that time, the rate has dropped “significantly” among those in same-sex partnerships. The Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention and researchers from Stockholm University conducted the study, and The Guardian reports that the numbers are promising.
The researchers found that between the two periods, the number of suicides among people in same-sex unions fell by 46%, compared to a decline of about 28% in the number of suicides by people in heterosexual relationships.
Researchers point out that other rights are being granted to LGBT folks in these areas as well, and the general stigmatization of the LGBT community has diminished as a result. The lowering of the suicide rates are a hopeful sign of this. However, there is still a world of work to be done, as one of the researchers reminded The Guardian that even as those numbers decline, suicide rates of people in same-sex unions or marriages are still twice as high as their opposite-sex couple counterparts.
Studies have also shown that LGBTQ youth are at dying by suicide at much higher rates than other groups of young people. Our own country, for example, still has a long way to go to make the world a safer and more welcoming place for LGBTQ communities.