Amerins Still Greatly Overtimate U.S. Gay Populatn

Contents:

• WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?
• WHAT PERCENT OF THE POPULATN IS GAY? MORE THAN YOU THK
• HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
• AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN
• WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
• IS 10% OF THE POPULATN REALLY GAY?

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?

The worldwi LGBTQ populatn by untry reports timate that approximately eight percent of the world intifi as homosexual, bisexual, or pansexual. 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. Millennials are the next most likely to be openly gay, and Baby Boomers are the least likely to report or intify as openly gay.

5 percent of the populatn was heterosexual, while the remar of the populatn reported, intified as homosexual or asexual. More women than men reported as homosexual, while 19 percent of women reported as said they had at least one same-sex attractn their life. Of those that do intify as LGBTQ, over 50 percent of them are bisexual and 24 percent are gay, while 11 percent are lbian.

Compared to many untri, cludg Canada, Israel has a higher than average gay populatn when parg LGBTQ populatn by untry. The younger generatns are more likely to intify as gay or report as In many untri, admtg one's LGBTQ+ orientatn n put one's employment, acceptance by society, eligibily for certa social assistance programs, and even personal safety at risk.

WHAT PERCENT OF THE POPULATN IS GAY? MORE THAN YOU THK

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. But when Gallup asked Amerins for their bt timate of the Amerin gay and lbian populatn, the rults ma all the figur mentned above look nservative.

In Augt 2002*, Gallup asked Amerins, an open-end format, to timate the percentage of Amerin men and the percentage of Amerin women who are homosexual.

In fact, roughly a quarter of the public thks more than 25% of men and 25% of women are homosexual. Male rponnts tend to give lower timat of both the male and female homosexual populatn than female rponnts do. Somewhat tertgly, both sex believe there are more homosexuals the oppose sex than their own sex.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?

Before the 1980s, the few reprentatns of homosexualy popular culture tend to nsist of potentially dangero social viants (thk Norman Bat Psycho). Sce then, however, the portrayal of gay characters pop culture have bee far more numero and mostly posive. In the last 10 years, the number of Amerins sayg they feel homosexualy should be nsired an acceptable alternative liftyle has gone om 38% (June 1992) to 51% (May 2002).

"Seeg ourselv reflected posively enurag gay people to e out, " said Cathy Renna, news media director for the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD).

AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN

" If you doubt that Ellen, Rosie and others have had an effect on Amerins' acceptance of homosexualy, nsir this -- MTV and Showtime are about to lnch a ble channel directed at the homosexual market.

Whether creased acceptance of homosexualy has led to an upsurge the number of posive media portrayals of gay characters or vice versa, one rult seems to be that Amerins now tend to overtimate the gay populatn Ameri.

While most expert timat place Ameri's homosexual populatn at 10% or ls, Amerins tend to gus that the number is higher, around 20%. *Rults based on telephone terviews wh 489 (for those timatg percentag of lbian women) and 518 (for those timatg percentag of gay men) nducted May 6-9, 2002.

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]

01) and 71% more likely to say is okay to discrimate agast lbian, gay, or bisexual dividuals (p<0. 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. Conversely, gay men prise substantially more than half of gay and bisexual men seven of the ne surveys. 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.

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.

IS 10% OF THE POPULATN REALLY 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 UK Integrated Hoehold Survey found the proportn to be two-thirds lbian/gay vers one-third bisexual. 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.