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Fewer high school students attempt suicide in states that have enacted hate crime laws that protect LGBT+ people. 

Researchers from the University of Indianapolis and The Ohio State University found that the reduction in suicide rates didn’t only occur among sexual and gender minority students, but also among heterosexual students. 

“In our study, we exploited differences across states in the presence and nature of hate crime laws to estimate what effect, if any, these statutory variations had on rates of suicide attempts among LGBT+ youth,” Aaron Kivisto, PhD,  author of the study and a researcher at the University of Indianapolis told Theravive. 

“Some states have no hate crime law whatsoever. There’s also variability in whether states’ hate crime laws explicitly name minoritized groups that are protected under the law. That is, whether the laws “enumerate” protected groups. The key question in our study was – does it matter whether sexual minority individuals are explicitly named as a protected group? At least along this one key mental health outcome of making a suicide attempt?”

The researchers found that states that had enacted hate crime laws had a 1.2 percent reduction in rates of youth attempting suicide.

The study authors argue that though this reduction may seem small, it is significant. 

“Although the significant 1.2-percentage point reduction in suicide attempts found in the present study reflects a small effect, the impacts of such a reduction may be substantial in light of the number of suicide attempts made by youth annually. For example, there are nearly 21 million youth between the ages of 14 and 18 in the U.S. Combined with our study’s past-year suicide attempt prevalence rate of 8.6%, this would suggest that there may be approximately 1.8 million suicide attempts annually among this population. Correspondingly, a small but reliable 1.2-percentage point reduction would represent 252,000 fewer youth suicide attempts,” Kivisto said. 

The researchers found there were differences in suicide rates reductions among different sexual minority groups in states in which hate crime laws that protected sexual minorities were enacted. Students who identified as bisexual or questioning had larger rates of reduction in suicide attempts than their gay and lesbian peers in this context. 

Reductions in suicide attempts were seen in both sexual minority youth and their heterosexual classmates. The study authors say this isn’t surprising. 

“This finding is consistent with prior research that has examined the effects of various policies targeting LGBT+ individuals and found that the positive effects tend to spread to non-LGBT+ people. For example, prior studies have shown that school districts with clear policies protecting the rights of LGBT+ students are associated with decreased suicidality among all students, including but not limited to LGBT+ students,” Kivisto said. 

“Similarly, research has found that state same-sex marriage laws were linked to decreased rates of suicide attempt not only among LGBT+ youth, but among their heterosexual cisgender peers as well. Our findings showing a similar effect is consistent with this line of research and the notion of “social spillover,” which essentially suggests that policies aimed at improving the health of certain groups tends to have beneficial impacts beyond the targeted subset of the population.”

The authors argue their study offers an important reminder that law makers have the power to protect the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ people by enacting and codifying hate crimes legislation.

“Laws and policies can serve to protect youth and can communicate that they belong in our communities. We see in our research that lawmakers’ decisions have serious consequences for youth mental health. Just as we see that hate crime laws that explicitly protect sexual minority individuals are associated with decreased rates of suicide attempt, it’s worth considering that the current legislative landscape, which includes a range of policies that are overtly hostile to the rights of LGBT+ individuals, are likely to have significant adverse consequences for the health of LGBT+ youth,” Kivisto said. 

“Our findings offer a small window into the potential for policy makers to either promote the health of LGBT+ youth by codifying these kinds of institutional messages of support, or, alternatively, to do real harm. I have serious concerns with the recent development of legislation that’s overtly abusive toward LGBT+ individuals, and we have every reason to believe that lives will be lost as a direct result of these policies.”