A new study conducted by the National Sexuality Resource Center exploring the impact of marriage discrimination on the mental health and well-being of gay men and lesbians concludes that they experience psychological and social harm from being denied the right to marry.

Gilbert Herdt, Ph.D., NSRC director, anthropologist and lead author of “I Do, But I Can’t: The Impact of Marriage Denial on the Mental Health and Sexual Citizenship of Lesbians and Gay Men in the United States,” said there is a consistent negative impact on the mental health of gay men, lesbians, their families and children resulting from same-sex couples being denied access to marriage.

The study, co-authored by Robert Kertzner, an assistant clinical professor at Columbia University, appears in this month’s Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC.

Researchers said they conducted the study because there is little research available on the topic. Herdt and colleagues began a meta-analysis last year, reviewing 150 other studies conducted over the last 20 years that examined a variety of relationships between mental health, social support, partner formations, parenting and citizenship among gays and lesbians in the U.S.

The researchers found a robust correlation between marriage and a sense of well-being. Many lesbians and gay men express an interest in being legally married, and the realization of that desire would likely translate into an enhanced sense of well-being, they concluded.

In a Feb. 28 press conference, Herdt cited several studies and organizations, such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, that have concluded there is no association between homosexuality and mental illness in the U.S.

“On the other hand, we also know in the mental health research community that gays and lesbians, as a population, have higher rates of stress-related problems,” he said.

Problems gays and lesbians experience, such as anxiety, depression, mood changes and substance abuse related to alcohol and drugs, can be explained by the concept of minority stress, Herdt said.

“Minority stress is the concept that has emerged from mental health research to explain the impact of simple discrimination in a huge range of areas for people,” he said.

The study also claims that denying same-sex couples the right to marry in the U.S. has been based, in part, on assumptions concerning the immorality and sexual promiscuity of gay men and lesbians.

“Stereotypes reinforce, in the minds of critics, the ineligibility of lesbians and gay men for marriage and parenthood,” Herdt said. “This proliferation of an old prejudice through marriage denial by sexual orientation harms all of us, because, like all injustice, it undermines our sense of fair play, and undermines our ability to imagine a future of hope.”

Herdt referred to a clinical study by researchers David E. Greenan and Gil Tunnell describing how a gay couple lived together for 25 years in mutual commitment, but experienced difficulties in recognizing the legitimacy of their relationship. The study said the couple had no plans to recognize their 25th anniversary, and still had not come out to their families, employers or neighbors.

“Such couples – and there are numerous studies of these – work very hard at their relationships. They are committed,” Herdt said. “They are able to love and stick together through all kinds of difficulties, but they suffer as a result because they don’t have the societal support necessary to sustain their efforts, their commitments and their love.”

Stuart Gaffney, speaking at the press conference, recalled the “thrill” of being able legally marry John Lewis, his partner of 19 years, at San Francisco City Hall in February 2004, when Mayor Gavin Newsom directed city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. When the California Supreme Court halted the marriages a month later and ruled them invalid in August of that year, Gaffney said he and Lewis were devastated.

“So that describes exactly what we felt when we were told our marriage – which meant the world to us, and, like anyone’s wedding day, was one of the happiest days of our lives – was null and void. We felt that sense of shame placed right back upon us,” Gaffney said.

Robert-Jay Green, Ph.D., director of the Rockway Institute, a GLBT research and public policy center at Alliant International University, and a professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, said the denial of marriage rights leads lesbian and gay people to feel that there’s no way to fulfill their deepest yearnings for a relationship.

“And without a vehicle to fulfill those yearnings, they have to live in the shadows,” he said. “If you have to live in the shadow, then [you] tend to live a shadowy existence.”

Herdt’s study also cited other research that came to the same conclusion: Social invisibility, perpetuated by stigma and shame, undermines a sense of life, meaning, morale and well-being for same-sex couples.

Here in San Diego, a workshop exploring similar social and psychological issues that arise from being gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender will take place at The Center. Dr. Sheryl Dagang, a clinical psychologist with The Center’s Health Services, will present the free workshop, entitled “Learning to Value Yourself in a Devaluing World,” on Thursday, March 30, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

“As LGBT people, we live, work, love, survive and thrive in a world that continually informs us of our ‘less-than’ status,” Dagang said. “We are bombarded with messages from television, movies, radio and other media, as well as spiritual communities and friends and family, that we do not deserve equal rights or even equal protection.

“We will examine the insidious nature of these messages as well as begin to formulate ways in which we, as individuals and as a community, can create spaces in which we experience and celebrate our value.”

For more information, contact Dr. Dagang at (619) 260-6380 ext. 110 or sdagang@thecentersd.org.