How did the 2021 national marriage equality referendum campaign in Switzerland affect the well-being of the LGBTIQ+ community? A team led by researchers at UZH has shown that LGBTIQ+ individuals and their cisgender heterosexual allies exhibited more stress hormones during the controversial campaign. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) individuals face persistent structural inequalities and discrimination that can adversely affect their well-being. When concerns of the LGBTIQ+ community are discussed in widespread public debates, such as during political initiative and referendum campaigns, that can leave marks and scars.
A team of researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH), Princeton University and the Université de Montréal has now investigated these lasting consequences in a study of how the public campaigns surrounding the 2021 national referendum on marriage equality in Switzerland affected LGBTIQ+ and cisgender heterosexual individuals' stress levels. To conduct the study, the researchers surveyed several hundred people before, during and after the national referendum in 2021 and gathered biological data collected in hair samples. Significantly higher stress levels Political campaigns against the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals can reinforce lived experiences of discrimination, rejection and alienation by mainstream society in people who are already stigmatized.
" Léïla Eisner, lead author, UZH Department of Psychology The researchers disc.