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.
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HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
* more gay males or females *
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. 5% of adults the Uned Stat intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual and an timated 0. 7% who intify as lbian or gay).
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.
How many adults are lbian, gay, or bisexual? 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.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN 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). In six of the surveys, lbian- and gay-intified dividuals outnumbered bisexuals.
In most s, the surveys were roughly 60% lbian/gay vers 40% bisexual.
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. 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.