Same-sex marriage laws, LGBT hate crimes, and employment discrimination charges

Abstract

The impact of same-sex marriage laws on the victimization of sexual minorities has not received much attention in the literature. Using state-level panel data within a difference-in-differences framework, I examine how the legalization of same-sex marriage affects hate crimes. The results show that same-sex marriage laws decrease sexual orientation-motivated hate crimes, with stronger effects on gay men. This is consistent with the laws increasing tolerance toward and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, further supported by complementary analysis from Google Trends data. This is also the first study to examine the effects of marriage equality on allegations of employment discrimination due to sexual orientation based on information from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The findings support that marriage equality laws have an additional beneficial effect: the laws not only decrease hate crimes, but they also decrease the incidence of employment discrimination (at worst, the laws do not affect discriminatory practices).