Host Michel Mart and Judy Bradford of the Center for Populatn Rearch LGBT Health discs the Instute Of Medice's report fdgs, as well as the LGBT muny's most prevalent health issu. Demographer Gary Gat also jos the nversatn. He is bunkg famo sex rearcher Aled Ksey's claim that 10% of mal the U.S. are gay. He talks about this percentage, the real number of Ameri's LGBT people, and challeng to gatherg accurate data.
Contents:
- WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
- AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN
- WHAT PERCENT OF THE POPULATN IS GAY? MORE THAN YOU THK
- IS 10% OF THE POPULATN REALLY GAY?
- AMERINS VASTLY OVERTIMATE SIZE OF GAY POPULATN, GALLUP POLL REVEALS
- AMERINS HAVE NO IA HOW FEW GAY PEOPLE THERE ARE
- GAY AMERINS: GOVERNMENT BEGS LGBT POPULATN COUNT
- WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
Gallup timat that 7.2% of the U.S. adult populatn is lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr. * what percent of the human population is gay *
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.
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. 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. Also, the Ksey Instute has - which is the legacy of Ksey - has stated very clearly that their view is that this was a kd of a polil cisn of gay activists the '70s.
And they took that rather obscure passage om a Ksey book, which was never tend to be an timate of the number of gay people the Uned Stat and kd of adopted for polil purpos. It is timated that the younger generatns are more likely to be open about their sexualy, wh Generatn Z beg the most likely to be openly gay, bisexual, or asexual or pansexual. In 2011, one report dited that approximately 96.5 percent of the populatn was heterosexual, while the remar of the populatn reported, intified as homosexual or asexual.
AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN
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. * what percent of the human population is gay *
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. 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.
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.
WHAT PERCENT OF THE POPULATN IS GAY? MORE THAN YOU THK
* what percent of the human population is gay *
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 bisexual.The surveys show even greater nsistency differenc between men and women associated wh lbian/gay vers bisexual inty. 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?
IS 10% OF THE POPULATN REALLY GAY?
A new poll shows that a majory of Amerins believe at least one four people are gay or lbian. * what percent of the human population is gay *
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.
AMERINS VASTLY OVERTIMATE SIZE OF GAY POPULATN, GALLUP POLL REVEALS
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. 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.
AMERINS HAVE NO IA HOW FEW GAY PEOPLE THERE ARE
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. 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.
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.
GAY AMERINS: GOVERNMENT BEGS LGBT POPULATN COUNT
The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey. Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment.
In many natns, there has been an creasg acceptance of homosexualy, cludg the Uned Stat, where 72% say should be accepted, pared wh jt 49% as recently as 2007. In many of the untri surveyed, there also are differenc on acceptance of homosexualy by age, tn, e and, some stanc, genr – and several s, the differenc are substantial. For example, some untri, those who are affiliated wh a relig group tend to be ls acceptg of homosexualy than those who are unaffiliated (a group sometim referred to as relig “non”).
For example, Swen, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which have a per-pa gross domtic product over $50, 000, acceptance of homosexualy is among the hight measured across the 34 untri surveyed.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?
The study is a follow-up to a 2013 report that found many of the same patterns as seen today, although there has been an crease acceptance of homosexualy across many of the untri surveyed both years.
But sub-Saharan Ai, the Middle East, Rsia and Ukrae, few say that society should accept homosexualy; only South Ai (54%) and Israel (47%) do more than a quarter hold this view.