Study: Parental Rejection of Gay Kids is "Harmful" To Health

In News of the Obvious, a study published in the academic journal Pediatrics has found that when parents reject their children's lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) sexual orientations, these children are more likely to have negative health problems.

Specifically, the study assessed parental and caregiver reactions to lesbian, gay, and bisexual sexual orientations on a quantitative scale. The study also measured "9 negative health indicators, including mental health, substance abuse, and sexual risk" and found that "higher rates of family rejection were significantly associated with poorer health outcomes." Most disturbingly the study found that LGB youth experiencing high levels of parental rejection were 8 times more likely to have tried to commit suicide than those experiencing little or not parental rejection.

That this study found a clear link between parental rejection and negative health outcomes is not surprising to many of us within the LGBT community. How can we, as a society, believe that telling millions of LGB people that there is something fundamentally wrong with homosexuality and that we should, therefore, reject this innate part of ourselves will result in good mental and physical health?

What we should be rejecting is bigotry and ignorance. In fact, most evidence shows that it's harmful not to.