Does an improved social environment for sexual and gender minorities have implications for a new minority stress research agenda?

Prejudice and stigma have been central to our understanding of the health and well-being of LGBT people using the minority stress perspective. Minority stress research has explained adverse health outcomes in LGBT populations and health disparities between LGBT and heterosexual cisgender populations. Recent shifts in the social environment of LGBT people in some regions of the world allow the experience a more accepting and inclusive society. These changes require that social scientist adapt their research agenda. The author calls for researchers to explore changes in stigma and prejudice toward sexual and gender minorities; assess the impact of changes in the social environment on the lived experiences of LGBT persons across generations and intersections of race/ethnicity, gender and gender expression, and socioeconomic status; describe changes in stress and coping of LGBT people; and examine whether social changes lead to reduction in health disparities by sexual orientation and gender diversity.