Ilan Meyer

Meyer developed a model of that describes the relationship of social stressors and mental disorders and helps to explain LGBT health disparities. The model has guided his and other investigators’ population research on LGBT health disparities by identifying the mechanisms by which social stressors impact health and describing the harm to LGBT people from prejudice and stigma. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) cited the model as one of four cross-cutting perspectives (the only one stemming from LGBT scholarship) recommended for the study of LGBT health.

For this work, Meyer received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns of the American Psychological Association (APA) and Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from the APA’s Division 44. Based on his body of work, Meyer provided expert testimony related to same-sex marriage in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, and to peer-to-peer violence and bullying before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

In 2010, Meyer was an expert witness in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial, testifying on the mental health impact on gay couples denied the right to marry. His testimony relied on empirical studies showing that gays and lesbians encounter a disproportionate level of stress and mental health difficulties because of discrimination, and that these stresses amplify the social stigma that makes them more susceptible to depression, suicide and substance abuse. When asked if mental health outcomes for gays and lesbians in California would improve if Proposition 8 were not law, Meyer said, in the affirmative, that "when people are exposed to more stress...they are more likely to get sick, consistent with a law that says to gay people you are not welcome here, your relationships are not valued"; laws such as Proposition 8, he said, "[have] significant power."

Meyer has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and numerous other publications and conference abstracts, co-edited one book, and is in the process of writing another book. In 2001, he edited the first special issue on LGBT health in The American Journal of Public Health. Meyer is co-editor with Mary E. Northridge of The Health of Sexual Minorities: Public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations (Springer, 2007). The text offers a multidimensional picture of LGBT health, incorporating contributions from across clinical and social science disciplines.

Ilan H. Meyer (born January 26, 1956) is an American psychiatric epidemiologist, author, professor, and a senior scholar for public policy and sexual orientation law at the Williams Institute of UCLA. He has conducted extensive research on minority identities related to sexual orientation, gender, race and ethnicity, drawing conclusions on the impact of social stresses on their mental health. Meyer was an expert witness for the plaintiffs in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (2010), the federal case that overturned California Proposition 8.