LGBT News CDC survey says less than 3% of population is gay or lesbien.

Well... It depends wich area the survey covers. There would be a greater LGBT population percentage in SF than in rural Missisipi...

 

I don't know why it's the sad truth. It's just a real number. I've heard crazy numbers like 10% and lowball numbers like 2%. If anyone is going to know, it will be the CDC, public health departments, Planned Parenthood, and other places like that. They have no incentive to lie. They will still be treating plenty of people for sexual and reproductive health matters.

With gay men, I think it's 4 to 5% at the most. With lesbians, I think it's 3 to 4% at the most. That makes it from 1 in 20 people, at the highest, to 1 in 33 people, at the lowest. Now, if you add in the more than once in a blue moon bisexuals, the percentage would go up.

The reason it might seem so high is because of the media hype that represents LGBT issues and controversies. You also have sitcoms that always manage to have a gay or lesbian character. The truth is that, if you have 5 guys or girls sharing a house, most of them are going to be straight ... or all gay or lesbian. The other thing is that some cities have huge LGBT populations because the small towns emptied out their LGBT populations. The LGBT folks left of their own choosing and for good reason. Only about 10 big cities have high LGBT populations. Most of the others do not. That also skews the perception.

The 3 to 5% number is sort of an average of everything I've ever heard or read.

 

If you're comparing our numbers to the total population, then yes - we are a small minority. However, being small when compared to the total population is true for pretty much everyone. There is a reason in about a decade the United States will be a majority minority nation.

It's a matter of "small compared to what" and "insignificant compared to what". As an example, Israel is a very small country both in terms of population and geographical area. Yet, few people would regard Israel as insignificant. The same is true for the Jewish people as a whole. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics the total number of Jews on the entire planet hovers around 0.19% when compared to the world's total population. Using that as a baseline, the number of LGB people in the world (using the 2.3% figure in this article) are just over 12 times as large as the entire Jewish population.

So, it's a matter of what are you comparing LGB people too. When compared to a total population? Yes, we're a small number. However, when compared to other important and relevant groupings of people? We are a significant and important chunk.

 

The CDC... Centers for disease control, right? Why are being surveyed as a disease?

 

I do. I really wouldn't be surprised if at least half the gay population is closeted - being gay still carries such a stigma and opens you up to discrimination. Yes its better today than it was in the past, but its still not easy. Plus these figures aren't going to include out people who simply like their privacy.

I work in a building of around 1000 people in and there is way more than 30 out gay people there. And this is just a bog standard Dilbert-esque office (nobody chooses to work here!) in a run of the mill area, hardly the HQ of a top magazine in the gay quarter of San Francisco!

Including closeted people and those preferring not to answer I think we can realistically be looking at 5-8% (1 in 20 to 1 in 12). I'd place my bets on 6%.

 

I don't think it's accurate but I think most of the population is probably bisexual . but 3% Oh please .:rolle:

 

That sounds accurate to me. Maybe I'm just not meeting *any* LGBTees... but I feel like the only one. Sigh.

 

UK 2011 Census says 1.5% of the UK's population are either lesbian, gay or bisexual. Previous government estimates put the figure as high as 6%. 1.5% does seem low - but I live in a big city, so I encounter more openly gay people than someone who lives in a small provincial town.

 

I'm very confused as to how they'd know that from the census given there was no question on sexuality on the 2011 UK census. I certainly didn't see one when I filled it in (believe me I would have noticed! ), and I've checked the forms again and there was definitely none (unless I'm missing something?). I know gay rights groups were pushing for there to be one but they were unsuccessful in that to my knowledge - they are planning it for the next census though.

Now there was a question on marriage status that including same-sex civil partnerships but that was all. So the 1.5% could only accurately mean percentage who were in or had been in same-sex civil partnerships. But that still doesn't account for the rest: single LGB, LGB in same-sex relationships but not civilly partnered, single asexuals, asexuals in relationships, closeted gay people or those in "straight relationships".

 

3% sounds about right. About 1 in 30 people I meet might be Queer? Yea, I can see that being accurate.

 

The first sentence in the article says all that needs to be said:

There seems to be a gap between the well-known but nebulous estimate of 10% of the population being LGBT, and these much "harder" data.

So I checked the paper on this and here are the results:

For adults, aged 18 and over (that already excludes those between 13 and 17 who might self-identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual) there are:

- "...96.6% identified as straight". Well, I identified myself as straight until I was 53...I can only assume that I am not alone in that.

- "1.6% identified as gay or lesbian", OK for those who feel comfortable responding to surveys, some of which were over the phone...if someone called you one evening and asked if you were gay, lesbian or bisexual, how would you answer?

- "The remaining 1.1% identified as "something else" (0.2%), selected "I don't know the answer (0.4%), or refused to provide an answer (0.6%)". When these 1.1% were removed from the analysis, the percentage of those identifying as straight rose slightly to 97.7%.

During data collection on these questions (you can see them in the linked report) two methods were used: 1) face to face, the possible answers were presented with flashcards given to the subjects. It seems they had to answer with someone present. 2) Phone calls: the caller listed the options verbally and the respondent had to tell the person what his orientation was.

For something as sensitive as one's own sexual orientation, there could be promises from God himself that anonymity would be guaranteed, however, when I considered myself straight, there was no way in hell I would have said anything else.

It is always important in these survey results to look at the questions and how they were asked. Methodology is pretty much the whole shooting match.

 

But how many of those people either lie about their sexuality or don't mention it to you at all? That's where I think there's some discretion and that the figures might be higher than what is listed.

 

Wow. Thanks for digging that up, Great Whale. I agree entirely. Wow. I had thought they used better methods than that, being the CDC.

Yeah, I think we can pretty much officially toss out those numbers. We're looking at the floor here, for sure, and not the ceiling. This is likely a better estimate for how many people are completely "out and proud" to pretty much everyone in their life and society as a whole. Those are going to generally be the type of people who will answer in the affirmative in those types of situations.

I'm actually shocked they were able to get numbers that high using those methods.

 

I've done some more digging as I didn't remember being asked about sexuality and found this: BBC News - Census day 2011 takes snapshot of life in UK

"But there are no questions on income, sexual orientation or the nature of any disability."

Basically what was asked in the 2011 census was "are you in a same-sex civil partnership (a UK civil marriage) or have you ever been?" to which 1.5% presumably said yes. Bear in mind how new civil partnerships were at the time (only coming into effect in 2004) it would be a low figure anyway - you also had many openly gay people who refused to go for civil marriages as they saw them as lesser to marriage. And the multitude of others I mentioned in my previous post who are not civilly partnered. So in summary the census doesn't really tell us much other than "there are more than 1.5% LGB people, we have no idea how much more though". ;p

 

I'm betting it's slightly more who aren't telling the truth. but 3% is probably close.

 

I think that they should do an estimate like "we have 1.5%, but estimates show around 6-8%"

 

Going back to what Great Whale posted, I recalled a Pew Research study on issues related to sexual orientation. The study was more about how people responded to such questions, here is a snippet where it talks about the method:

Here is how people responded:

It should be noted that this does not attempt to determine gay population - don't be fooled by those high numbers there. The sampling wasn't randomized to predict that based on the adult population.

However, what is important here is that it shows, conclusively, how people will actively lie when posed questions dealing with sexual orientation. This shows the CDC's method as dangerously flawed.

Here is a link to the Pew Research Center report.