Sexuality-based discrimination and sexual minority young men's health in the detroit metro area

Discrimination has been linked to negative health outcomes among minority populations. The increasing evidence regarding health disparities among sexual minorities has underscored the importance of addressing sexuality-related discrimination as a public health issue. As part of an academic-community partnership, United for HIV Integration and Policy (UHIP), we conducted a web-based survey of a racially diverse sample of young sexual minority men (ages 18-29) living in the Detroit Metro Area (N = 429; 80% self-identifying as gay; 51% African American, 26% White, 14% Latino, 9% Multiracial) and examined the association between young men's overall health (self-rated health, and number of days in prior month when their physical or mental health was not good) and their experiences of both sexuality-based work discrimination and housing discrimination in the past year, respectively. 15% of participants reported at least one experience of sexuality-based work discrimination in the past year. Four percent of participants reported sexuality-based housing discrimination. In multivariate regression models (p<.05), housing discrimination was negatively associated with self-rated health (b=-.77), after adjusting for race/ethnicity, education, sexual identity, employment status, poverty, and insurance status. Similarly, we found workplace discrimination was associated with a greater number of days when their physical (b=.23) and mental (b=.43) health was not good, respectively. Based on our findings, we discuss the importance of addressing sexuality-related discrimination as a public health problem and propose multilevel intervention strategies to address these discriminatory practices.