Objectives: We assessed the association between the health of people in same-sex relationships and the degree and nature of the legal recognition of same-sex relationships offered in the states in which they resided.
Methods: We conducted secondary data analyses on the 2010 to 2013 Current Population Survey and publicly available data from Freedom to Marry, Inc. We estimated ordered logistic regression models in a 4-level framework to assess the impact of states' legal stances toward same-sex marriage on self-assessed health.
Results: Our findings indicated, relative to states with antigay constitutional amendments, that same-sex couples living in states with legally sanctioned marriage reported higher levels of self-assessed health.
Conclusions: Our findings suggested that full legal recognition of same-sex relationships through marriage might be an important legal and policy strategy for improving the health of same-sex couples.