Is 10% of the populatn really gay?

How many people are gay? The bt known LGBT statistic says 1 10 people is homosexual but, what is behd this statistil procs? What ... * one in ten people are gay *

Back 1977, the US Natnal Gay Task Force (NGTF) was ved to the Whe Hoe to meet Print Jimmy Carter’s reprentativ – a first for gay and lbian groups. The NGTF’s most proment mpaigng slogan was “we are everywhere”, backed up by the memorable statistil claim that one 10 of the US populatn was gay – this figure was eply and passnately where did Bce Voeller, a scientist who was a founr and first director of the NGTF, get this nice round 10% om? To fd out, we have to lve back to Aled Ksey’s surveys 1940s Ameri, which were groundbreakg at the time but are now seen as archaic their methods: he sought out rponnts prisons and the gay unrworld, ma iends wh them and, over a cigarette, noted down their behavurs g an obscure .

Ksey did not believe that sexual inty was fixed and simply tegorised, and perhaps his most lastg ntributn was his sle, still ed today, which dividuals are rated om exclively heterosexual to exclively homosexual on a sle of 0 to ’s headle fdg was that “at least 37% of the male populatn has some homosexual experience between the begng of adolcence and old age”, meang physil ntact to the pot of asm. He claimed that 13% of mal were predomately homosexual for at least three years between the ag of 16 and 55 (srg at least 4) and that 4% of mal were exclively homosexual all their liv (srg 6).

In unmarried femal between the ag of 20 and 35, he claimed there was at least some homosexual experience 11%-20%, and 1%-3% were exclively Ksey terviews a woman for one of his sexual behavur surveys.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GAY? LGBT STATISTICS.

* one in ten people are gay *

Photograph: Bill Dellenback/APSo, 1973, when Voeller was puttg together the NGTF mpaign, he went back to Ksey’s timat for those wh predomantly homosexual experience (4 to 6 on his sle) for at least three years. But even cleaned-up data gave siar answers, and Voeller stuck to the 10%, statg 1990 that “the ncept that 10% of the populatn is gay has bee a generally accepted ‘fact’… As wh so many piec of knowledge (and myths), repeated tellg ma so. 1% said they had been exclively homosexual.

Statistics had bee part of a polil battleground, wh heated arguments back and forth, but unfortunately whout any agreed fn: what was meant by “homosexual”? It was clear that jt askg people their sexualy uld give wildly differg answers pendg on how people terpreted terms such as “homosexual”, and so a more nuanced approach was adopted.

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?

Nearly ne--ten U.S. adults (87%) say they know someone who is gay or lbian. Far fewer (30%) say they know someone who is transgenr. Across most * one in ten people are gay *

Natsal-3, om around 2010, asked which “bt scrib how you thk of yourself”: a) heterosexual/straight; b) gay/lbian; c) bisexual, d) other? 5% of men nsir themselv gay/lbian, and 1. 1% reported their inty as gay or lbian – roughly the same as Natsal.

I am cled to go wh Natsal, and my judgment would be that roughly one 80 adults unr 75 would nsir themselv gay/lbian and one 80 bisexual, but wh the balance towards bisexual women. Photograph: Le MacGregor/RtersThere are around 9 ln LGBT (lbian, gay bisexual and transgenr) Amerins, roughly equivalent to the populatn of New Jersey, acrdg to a recent US review.

But, jt as the UK, the route US Natnal Health Interview Survey (NHIS) up wh a lower figure for bisexualy than the dited sex surveys: seems plsible that there is ls willgns to acknowledge bisexual inty route surveys, whereas those who clearly intify themselv as gay or lbian are willg to be more upont sexual behavur n e all gre of tensy. History might provi some explanatn: men now aged around 60 were teenagers the liberatg 60s, when homosexualy was legalised, while men who are now around 70 grew up when same-sex male behavur men was illegal and equently prosecuted. Overall the proportn of people wh same-sex experience is far higher than the proportn who intify themselv as gay and bisexual.

5. VAST MAJORY OF AMERINS KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS GAY, FEWER KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS TRANSGENR

One of the early gay activist talkg pots was that 1 10 people were gay, even though the activists knew this was not te. That’s why was * one in ten people are gay *

This mt mean that many same-sex ntacts are by people who do not nsir themselv gay or bisexual. That’s jt what we fd reputable surveys: the last big US survey, 10% of women and 3% of men who intified themselv as “heterosexual” also reported a same‑sex the public health world the rather clumsy phrase “men who have sex wh men” (MSM) rather than “homosexual” or “gay” there is one characteristic that un female and male same-sex experience: the rat are two to three tim higher among those wh further tn than those wh no wh chang behavur, there’s been a nsistent shift attus to same-sex partnerships.

Many Amerins know someone who is gay, fewer know someone who is transgenr | Pew Rearch Center

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