Study Blows Hole In Claim Bullying Drives LGBT Mental Health Problems

By Derek Vanbuskirk

A new study in Psychological Medicine concludes that minority stress is not the reason homosexuals have more mental health issues than heterosexuals.

The systematic multilevel meta-analysis, published by Cambridge University Press on Monday, suggests that two-thirds of the discrepancy in mental illness between heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals disappears when shared environmental and genetic factors are accounted for. (RELATED: Gay New York Democrats Seek To Undo Only Redeemable Part Of Anthony Fauci’s Legacy)

“A large proportion of the disparities is attributable to factors shared by both non-heterosexual and heterosexual persons who are genetically related and reared together,” the study says, adding that such factors “reflect genetic or shared environmental factors present in the families of non-heterosexual persons and also affecting heterosexual members.”

One of the study’s authors and a professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University, Michael Bailey, said that the study challenges the Sexual Minority Stress Theory (SMST), which suggests that the increased depression, anxiety and suicidality that homosexuals face are the result of the group being mistreated.

He said that one 2003 study pointed to SMST, which has been cited 20,000 times, and that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has also funded research into the theory to explain the larger mental health gap between heterosexuals and transgender youth. SMST has been the dominant theory for 30 years, Bailey said.

Bailey said that SMST has its problems, including that mental health disparities have remained the same despite a growing tolerance of sexual minorities in the West.

“In our new study, we use simple and compelling logic to estimate the degree to which minority stress accounts for the mental health disparities. The answer, again, is ‘not much,’” Bailey said.

We hope our method will be applied to study gender dysphoria and transgender. There are databases that have the requisite information. Chances are, they are highly restricted for political reasons. Lift these restrictions! (14/n)

— Michael Bailey (@profjmb) August 11, 2026

He described the “logic” as finding that family members of heterosexuals, including identical twins, also have similar mental health challenges despite not experiencing any sexual minority stress.

The author said that researchers should start considering competing hypotheses in their studies on minority stress and called on the NIH to stop funding such studies. (RELATED: Media Hypes Record July Heat While Leaving Out Key Details Of Study)

“We need to look elsewhere, other than minority stress, if we want to improve their mental health,” Bailey said.

Bailey has an extensive background in research on human sexuality, though he has drawn politicized criticism for his work, including the 2003 book, The Man Who Would Be Queen, which covers topics on transgenderism. In 2018, a petition signed by 4,000 individuals condemned Bailey’s decision to feature a lecture from renowned London School of Economics evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa — mostly because of the latter’s work on genetic origins of intelligence.