American Foundation for Equal Rights

LA Times: Mental health expert testifies on the effects of Prop. 8

In an effort to show that Proposition 8 caused harm, lawyers for two same-sex couples presented expert testimony today that the ballot measure represented the kind of prejudice that has made gays and lesbians twice as likely as heterosexuals to suffer mood disorders and substance abuse.

Proposition 8, which resurrected a California ban on same-sex marriage, “sends a message that gay relationships are not respected, that they are of secondary value if they are of any value at all,” testified Columbia University Professor Ilan H. Meyer, an expert in mental health issues among gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

Meyer, who teaches in Columbia’s public health department, said Proposition 8 also sent a public message that it was OK “to designate gay people as a different class of people in terms of their intimate relationships.”

Meyer testified that earlier testimony by the gay and lesbian plaintiffs in the case revealed feelings of anxiety and rejection that are not uncommon among gays and lesbians.

Read the rest of Maura Dolan’s LA Times article here.