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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Minority Stress in the Face of Changes in LGB Rights in Croatia
Author(s)
Margareta Jelić, Petra Kožljan
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5542/2017.05.003
Affiliation(s)
University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
ABSTRACT
In 2013 in Croatia a referendum
took place regarding the issue of the Constitutional definition of marriage as
a union between a man and a woman. However, less than a year later the Croatian
Parliament passed Life Partnership Act making same-sex couples equal in all
rights to married couples, except for adoption. In this study we wanted to
explore reactions of LGB individuals to the referendum and immediately after
the Life Partnership Act was adopted. Aim of this study was to test the
minority stress model in the changing context of Croatian society regarding the
rights of LGB individuals. We wanted to explore cognitive, emotional and
behavioural reactions of LGB persons following the referendum (that banned gay
marriages) as well as the possible changes in their attitudes after the Life
Partnership Act (that makes same-sex couples equal to married couples in
everything except adoption) was adopted. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative
study, specifically interviews with eleven LGB individuals (homosexual and
bisexual, activist and non-activists) in two time points: immediately after the
Referendum and following the Life Partnership Act. We analysed the results in
terms of Meyer’s minority stress model. Taken in general, our findings confirm
the minority stress model and highlight social context as an important
determinant of minority stress for LGB individuals. The current state of the
LGB rights is viewed as inadequate, but positive changes are expected in the
future. The results also confirm the protective role of social support, both
individual and collective, for LGBT individual when faced with minority stress.
However, in some cases the LGB community fails to fulfil the expectations of
its members which can turn it into a source of stress instead of support.
KEYWORDS
LGB, Croatian constitutional referendum, life partnership act, minority
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