In his 1948 book, Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey shocked the world by announcg that 10% of the male populatn is gay. A 1993 Jan Report timated that ne percent of men and five percent of women had more than "ocsnal" homosexual relatnships. To some people, homosexualy is a matter of perceptn and fn. Furthermore, many people have trouble admtg their homosexualy to themselv, much ls to a rearcher. But when Gallup asked Amerins for their bt timate of the Amerin gay and lbian populatn, the rults ma all the figur mentned look nservative.
Contents:
- WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
- HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
- WHAT PERCENT OF THE POPULATN IS GAY? MORE THAN YOU THK
- AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN
- DIFFERENC DIG RATS BETWEEN GAY MEN WHO PREFER RECEPTIVE VERS SERTIVE SEX ROL DITE A ROLE FOR PRENATAL ANDROGEN
- DO GAY PEOPLE REALLY MAKE UP 3.5% OF THE POPULATN?
- IS 10% OF THE POPULATN REALLY GAY?
- WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE U.S. POPULATN IS GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL?
- 10 COUNTRI WH THE BIGGT GAY POPULATNS THE WORLD
- WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
U.S. adults timate that nearly one four Amerins (23.6%) are gay or lbian. Gallup has prevly found that Amerins have greatly overtimated the U.S. gay populatn. * ratio of gay people *
The variants are more clive of all dividuals who are non-heterosexual and non-cisgenr stead of exclively applyg to people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr. For example, one set of qutns may seek self-reported data on same-sex sexual experienc, while another set may seek data surroundg personal intifitn as lbian, gay, or bisexual. Other stat wh LGBTQ+ protectns, such as Massachetts and Colorado, also have higher timated populatns of gay, lbian, bisexual, and otherwise non-heterosexual dividuals.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
Disver all facts and statistics on Homosexualy (gays and lbians) the U.S. on ! * ratio of gay people *
Increasg numbers of populatn-based surveys the Uned Stat and across the world clu qutns that allow for an timate of the size of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) populatn. Unrstandg the size of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) populatn is a cril first step to rmg a host of public policy and rearch topics.
WHAT PERCENT OF THE POPULATN IS GAY? MORE THAN YOU THK
Gallup timat that 7.2% of the U.S. adult populatn is lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr. * ratio of gay people *
In measurg sexual orientatn, lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals may be intified strictly based on their self-inty or may be possible to nsir same-sex sexual behavr or sexual attractn. Fdgs shown Figure 1 nsir timat of the percentage of adults who self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual across ne surveys nducted wh the past seven years. While the surveys show a fairly wi variatn the overall percentage of adults who intify as LGB, the proportn who intify as lbian/gay vers bisexual is somewhat more nsistent (see Figure 2).
The Natnal Survey of Fay Growth found rults that were sentially the oppose of the UK survey wh only 38% intifyg as lbian or gay pared to 62% intifyg as bisexual. The Natnal Survey of Sexual Health and Behavr and the Atralian Longudal Study of Health and Relatnships both found a majory of rponnts (55% and 59%, rpectively) intifyg as surveys show even greater nsistency differenc between men and women associated wh lbian/gay vers bisexual inty. Wh the surveys, a larger actn of adults report same-sex attractns and behavrs than self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual (see Figure 4).
The most important takeaway isn’t a fal tally of the gay people society, but, rather, an unrstandg of the ways which surveys and other existg attempts to measure such thgs might be slightly misleadg. “The rults show non-heterosexualy and anti-gay sentiment are substantially unrtimated existg surveys, and the privacy afford by current bt practic is not always sufficient to elimate bias, ” note the rearchers, who were jt lookg at the way surveys might unr-unt both homosexualy and attus toward homosexualy. As Gallup poted out s ial timate of the entire LGBT populatn 2012, "Exactly who mak up the LGBT muny and how this group should be measured is a subject of some bate, " and "there are a number of ways to measure lbian, gay, and bisexual orientatn, and transgenr stat.
AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN
Among non-human mammals, exposure to androgens durg cril perds of velopment leads to gynephilia (attractn to femal), whereas the absence or low levels of prenatal androgens leads to androphilia (attractn to mal). However, humans, retrospective markers of prenatal androgens have only been associated wh gynephilia among women, but not wh androphilia among men. Here, we asked whether an direct ditn of prenatal androgen exposure, 2D:4D, differs between subsets of gay men leated by anal sex role (ASR). ASR was ed as a proxy for subgroups bee ASR groups tend to differ other measur affected by bra sexual differentiatn, such as genr nformy. First, we replited the fdg that gay men wh a receptive ASR preference (bottoms) report greater genr nonnformy (GNC) pared to gay men wh an sertive ASR preference (tops). We then found that Tops have a lower (male-typil) average right-hand dig rat than Bottoms, and that among all gay men the right-hand 2D:4D rrelated wh GNC, ditg that a higher (female-typil) 2D:4D is associated wh creased GNC. Differenc were found between non-exclive and exclive same-sex attractn and GNC, and ASR group differenc on dig rats do not reach signifince when all non-heterosexual men are clud the analys, suggtg greater heterogeney the velopment of non-exclive same-sex sexual orientatns. Overall, rults support a role for prenatal androgens, as approximated by dig rats, fluencg the sexual orientatn and GNC of a subset of gay men. * ratio of gay people *
Are far lower than what the public timat, and no measurement procre has produced any figur suggtg that more than one out of five Amerins are gay or lbian. Among polil partisans, Democrats and pennts timate that about a quarter of Amerins are gay or lbian, while the average approximatn among Republins is a b lower (18.
It is, therefore, possible that Amerins' perceptns of the gay populatn may be fluenced by the greater reprentatn they see among young people. LGBTQ people are at creased risk for beg targeted for sex crim, as historil prejudice and stigma have picted LGBTQ people—pecially gay/bisexual men—as sexual predators.
The average age among rponnts was 51; 87% were Whe; and 20% intified as lbian, gay, bisexual, queer/pansexual, and/or transgenr (LGBTQ). In ntrast, the data do not support a role for prenatal androgens the velopment of differenc sexual orientatn among men, as nclud by the same two meta-analys4, the associatn wh 2D:4D and genr rol among female sexual orientatn, we hypothized that a subset of gay men who are more genr nonnformg may show a larger, ls male-typil, 2D:4D than more genr nformg gay men.
DIFFERENC DIG RATS BETWEEN GAY MEN WHO PREFER RECEPTIVE VERS SERTIVE SEX ROL DITE A ROLE FOR PRENATAL ANDROGEN
After years of wild gus and flawed timatns, Gallup has attempted to get some hard data on jt how many gay, lbian, and bisexual people there are Ameri. So how good are their are numbers? * ratio of gay people *
A growg body of work dit that anal sex role (ASR) preferenc may serve as a proxy for subgroups of gay men who differ velopment and genr nformy6, 7, 8, 9. We hypothized that gay men wh a Bottom ASR (receptive), who tend to be more genr nonnformg (GNC), would have a higher (more female-typil) average dig rat than ASR Tops (sertive), who tend to be more genr nformg.
DO GAY PEOPLE REALLY MAKE UP 3.5% OF THE POPULATN?
The San Francis metropolan area has the hight percentage of adults who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT) of any of the 50 largt U.S. metro areas, followed by Portland, Oregon, and At, Texas. * ratio of gay people *
E., (1) dited that they were assigned male at birth, (2) intify wh male genr, (3) intify as gay and 4) report an exclive attractn to mal the last year], 125 of which dited their ASR preferenc, and 122 dited their ASR behavr. 098) rats rrelate wh GNCAmong the entire sample of gay men, right-hand dig rats signifintly rrelated wh both Relled Childhood GNC (Pearson’s R = − 0. For nsistency across measur, sre on the Relled Childhood GNC sle were subtracted by 5 and multiplied by negative 1 for graphil pictn of rults; Th, a higher sre on both the Childhood and Adulthood GNC graphs dit more genr size imageNon-exclive same-sex attractn, GNC and dig ratsThe prcipal analys above asssed ASR differenc GNC and dig rats among gay men, whereas other non-heterosexual men were exclud om the analys as we hypothized that there may be more variabily velopmental procs fluencg sexual orientatn of men who display variatn same and oppose sex attractn and/or behavr.
IS 10% OF THE POPULATN REALLY GAY?
Gallup fds 5.6% of U.S. adults intifyg as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, wh the majory of them sayg they are bisexual. * ratio of gay people *
Here, we report analys on the fol measur cludg all non-heterosexual men: self-intified gay men (n = 149), self-intified bisexual men (n = 24), and men who self-intified as “other” (n = 18; self-labels clud: pansexual, asexual, nonbary, genrqueer, queer, heteroflexible, qutng, trans, and var forms of “I don’t label myself”). 05), wh bisexual men reportg the lowt childhood GNC followed by gay men, and the “other” group reported the hight differenc were also found on the adulthood GNC measure, F(2, 192) = 10.
DiscsnWe replited the fdg that ASR groups differ both relled childhood GNC and adulthood GNC, as gay men wh an sertive ASR preference (self-intified Tops) were more genr nformg than men wh a receptive ASR preference (self-intified Bottoms). Fally, we found that across the entire sample of gay men, 2D:4D rats rrelated wh both relled childhood and adulthood measur of GNC, such that a more male-typil (lower) 2D:4D was associated wh more genr nformy. Altogether, the fdgs support a role for prenatal androgens fluencg ASR preference and genr nformy of gay fdg that 2D:4D rats differ a subset of gay men based on ASR and GNC rrponds well to the lerature on 2D:4D rats sexual orientatn women: self-intified “femme” and “butch” lbians differ their average dig rats such that the more genr nformg group (“femm”) had more female-typil (higher) 2D:4D rats3.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE U.S. POPULATN IS GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL?
Our list of 10 untri wh the Biggt Gay Populatn the World is likely to tch you by surprise as you’re gog to fd some of the most nservative untri this list as well. - All Parts * ratio of gay people *
Alternatively (although not mutually exclively), prenatal androgens may mediate a third variable such as sexual orientatn and/or body type which may fluence genr prent fdgs are nsistent wh prev lerature showg that gay men wh an sertive ASR preference display other ditors of high androgen exposure, cludg an earlier pubertal onset, creased height and body hair pared to both heterosexual men and other gay men19. The fdgs together wh the current study suggt that gay men wh an sertive ASR may be exposed to higher levels of androgens throughout their lifpan, rather than, or addn to, receptive ASR gay men beg exposed to lower androgens prenatally.
While there is generally high nrdance between preference and behavr, is likely that preference/fantasi rrpond more to ternal factors, whereas behavr is more nstraed by external nsiratns, such as the preferenc of sexual partners, and/or soc-cultural factors associated wh masculy and sex primary analys the prent study evaluated ASR group differenc GNC and dig rats among gay men, whereas other non-heterosexual men were exclud om the analys. For stance, the three groups of non-heterosexual men differ GNC: both self-intified bisexual and gay men report lower relled childhood and adulthood GNC pared to the “other” group of non-heterosexual men, and bisexual men report lower childhood GNC pared to gay men. Th, while is possible that prenatal androgens ntribute to the sexual orientatn of some non-exclive same-sex oriented men, this prr work together wh the prent study suggts that the velopment of same-sex attractn among bisexual and other non-heterosexual men likely differs and/or may be more variable than gay is important to note the limatns of the prent study that should be taken to nsiratn.
10 COUNTRI WH THE BIGGT GAY POPULATNS THE WORLD
The sample is also largely homogeneo wh rpect to ethnicy (~ 80% Whe), and prr work has dited that there are ethnic differenc dig rats (e.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?
We, as well as other labs, have ed this measure prr publitns, showg nsistent sex differenc and sexual orientatn differenc among ncln, we found that a retrospective approximatn of prenatal androgens, the 2D:4D rat, differs among ASR preference groups, suggtg that gay men who prefer a receptive ASR and who tend to be more genr nonnformg were exposed to a lower level of prenatal androgen than gay men who prefer an sertive ASR, who tend to be more genr nformg.
The rults support the nroendocre hypothis that at least a subset of gay men may owe their sexual orientatn to a rctn prenatal androgens, although is possible that high levels of prenatal androgens uld also crease odds of androphilia among men. Fally, the rults are also nsistent wh the hypothis that there are multiple velopmental pathways unrlyg male sexual orientatn, and that future rearch should not nsir gay men as a homogeno group.
Usg phallometric tt sensivi to lculate the proportn of te pedophil among var groups of sex offenrs agast children, and takg to nsiratn prevly reported mean numbers of victims per offenr group, the rat of heterosexual to homosexual pedophil was lculated to be approximately 11:1. This suggts that the rultg proportn of te pedophil among persons wh a homosexual erotic velopment is greater than that persons who velop heterosexually.