Gay Amerins: Government Begs LGBT Populatn Count

Contents:

• GAY AMERINS: GOVERNMENT BEGS LGBT POPULATN COUNT
• GAY PEOPLE LIVE 50 AMERIS
• THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR AGG
• YET ANOTHER STUDY CONFIRMS GAY LIFE EXPECTANCY 20 YEARS SHORTER

GAY AMERINS: GOVERNMENT BEGS LGBT POPULATN COUNT

Hard evince is difficult to e by, but the data we do have suggts that homosexualy tends to shorten life by many years. Over the past few months we have learnt of a number of reports regardg a paper we published the Internatnal Journal of Epimlogy on the gay and bisexual life expectancy Vanuver the late 1980s and early 1990s. 1 From the reports appears that our rearch is beg ed by select groups US2 and Fland3 to suggt that gay and bisexual men live an unhealthy liftyle that is stctive to themselv and to others.

The homophobic groups appear more terted rtrictg the human rights of gay and bisexuals rather than promotg their health and well aim of our rearch was never to spread more homophobia, but to monstrate to an ternatnal dience how the life expectancy of gay and bisexual men n be timated om limed val statistics data. In our paper, we monstrated that a major Canadian centre, life expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 21 years ls than for all men. If the same pattern of mortaly ntued, we timated that nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently aged 20 years would not reach their 65th birthday.

Unr even the most liberal assumptns, gay and bisexual men this urban centre were experiencg a life expectancy siar to that experienced by men Canada the year 1871. In ntrast, if we were to repeat this analysis today the life expectancy of gay and bisexual men would be greatly improved. If timat of an dividual gay and bisexual man's risk of ath is tly need for legal or other purpos, then people makg the timat should e the same actuarial tabl that are ed for all other mal that populatn.

GAY PEOPLE LIVE 50 AMERIS

Gay and bisexual men are clud the nstctn of official populatn-based tabl and therefore the tabl for all mal are the appropriate on to be summary, the aim of our work was to assist health planners wh the means of timatg the impact of HIV fectn on groups, like gay and bisexual men, not necsarily ptured by val statistics data and not to hr the rights of the groups worldwi. Overall, we do not ndone the e of our rearch a manner that rtricts the polil or human rights of gay and bisexual men or any other group. For lbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenr people, realizg their sexual orientatn or genr inty and sharg that rmatn wh fay and iends is often a gradual procs that n unfold over a seri of years.

A majory of employed LGBT adults say their workplac are acceptg of people who are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr. And some 54% say all or most of the important people their life know that they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr.

Lbians and gay men are more likely than bisexuals to have told at least one close iend about their sexual orientatn (96% of gay men and 94% of lbians, pared wh 79% of bisexuals). And they are much more likely to say that most of the people who are important to them know about this aspect of their life: 77% of gay men and 71% of lbians say all or most people know, pared wh 28% of bisexuals. Among all LGBT adults, those wh a llege gree are more likely than those who have not graduated om llege to say all or most of the important people their life know they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (64% vs.

THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.

Lbian, gay and bisexual survey rponnts were asked how old they were when they first felt they might be somethg other than straight or heterosexual. The vast majory of lbians, gay men and bisexuals say they were their teens or younger when they first started to feel they might not be straight. Gay men are the least likely to report first havg the feelgs their twenti or beyond: 3% say they were 20 or olr, pared wh 14% of lbians and 15% of bisexuals.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR AGG

15 Among LGBT adults who say they know for sure that they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (92%), 17 is the median age at which they say they knew. One--five say they knew for sure they were lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr when they were their twenti, and 8% say wasn’t until they were 30 or olr. The next step the procs for many people is tellg a close iend or fay member that you are or might be lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr.

Some 4% of gay men and 5% of lbians say the fact that their sexual orientatn has not e up wh close iends or fay members. Among gay men and lbians unr age 30, 24% say they first told a iend or fay member that they were gay or lbian before the age of 15.

Fully two-thirds of gay men and lbians unr age 30 say they shared their sexual orientatn wh a iend or fay member before they were 20 years old.

YET ANOTHER STUDY CONFIRMS GAY LIFE EXPECTANCY 20 YEARS SHORTER

The age gaps may be related to the fact that younger adults who may not yet intify themselv as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (but may the future) would not qualify to be clud the survey.

Therefore, by fn, the younger adults uld not have waed until they were age 30 or olr to tell someone they were gay or lbian. As the public has bee more acceptg of the LGBT populatn, may be that gay men and lbians feel more fortable sharg their sexual orientatn at an earlier age.

Others may know for certa that they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr but may have never shared this rmatn wh anyone.