10% of the population is homosexual?

[san antonio]

I’ve heard a 10% statistic thrown around quite often as a percentage of the general population that is homosexual. Where does that number come from? Is it accurate? What’s the most reliable/accurate percentage of the population that is homosexual?

I don’t have a reason for wanting to know, I’m just curious.

Thanks,

[Paragon]

1. I don't think you can check "homosexual" on your Census form.

It might have been Kinsey who threw out that 10% however long ago. Honestly, who cares about exact numbers or percentages - they're here, they're queer, get used to it.

[Frodo]

2. The 1948 Kinsey Report

Who cares?

[Padraig18]

3. It was Dr. Kinsey...

... and I personally think it's a bit high--- maybe %5 exclusively homosexual, and another 5-7% bisexual, would be my best guess.

[san antonio]

5. Thanks.

Thanks for the info.

I just see that number thrown around a lot and I never knew where it came from. That's the only reason I wanted to know.

[Nederland]

8. Flawed

Later studies said that the Dr. Kinsey number was too high because he didn't use a balanced sample to calculate his numbers. For example, his sample population consisted of an overly large number of prison convicts.

[Frodo]

12. Was the questin "homosexual contact ever"?

Or was it "is this your sexual orientation"?

Sex in prison is far less about orientation than power.

[MuseRider]

13. Really? You think it is that low?

I live in the city of Phelps and I would say at least 30% of my friends are gay, those are the ones I know about because they make no bones about it, some may not be so comfortable.

[plcdude]

26. can't help it

"make not bones about it" wouldn't it be the other way around?

[mitchtv]

38. ha, in my little world Palm Springs/ Cathedral City it's like 40%

But that's cause they are Fleeing the hinderlands to settle in peace, free from harassment. Gay mayor in PS; gay Mayor pro tem in CC

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Probably not anymore reliable than any other number.

And I say this as a gay man. It sure as hell is higher than the less the 1 percent the fundies trot out. But really nobody knows. With so much social stigma attached to homosexuality, getting a decent census of gay and lesbian Americans is nigh impossible. I heard a recent survey said 17 percent of Australians were gay.

But who really knows?

[TrogL]

6. Define homosexual

If you mean exclusively homosexual, it's probably 3-5%.

If you mean "once looked fondly upon the visage of a same-sex figure", it's probably 95% - think men who worship professional wrestling.

I think Kinsey had the right idea that we are all of us "bi", just on a sliding scale. I just disagree with his numbers.

[TrogL]

9. and then there's the falacious ex-gay movement

http://www.gaytoday.com/viewpoint/120803vp.asp

[dreissig]

28. Falacious?

Get that spelling right!

[TrogL]

36. You mean fallacious

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fallacious

[mitchtv]

39. sure it's not Fellatious?

.

[kiahzero]

35. That almost seems like a Fruedian slip

I've got a sick, sick mind.

[papau]

7. A study done in the 80's came up with 4 -5 male, 2-3% female -plus

"experimenters/bisex" of another 1 %.

It was done rather well mathematically - and its extrapolated Aids numbers seem to fit as I recall.

But the study was not done to actually get an extimate of gay population - it was a projection into the future of likely aids claims - meaning off-setting error was not a worry.

It remains in my memory the best estimate done, however,

Then again folks throw out 20% and 5%, by sex, numbers in debates - so I would guess that is the outer limit of the size of the gay population.

on edit : one timers were not included - and of course our CIA/NSA define experiences before the age of 16 as not counting - or that was the rule:

[ursacorwin]

11. it's just so hard to tell

and i think it's a that 'gay' means totally different things to men, women, transfolks, and so on.

where i live and work, i'd guess that easily 30% of the folks are 'gay' by which i mean that they do, have in the past, or would like to have sex with a person of the same gender. but this is different than the number of us who are out and proud, actively having same-sex encounters, and all that stuff. that's only about 10%. which is weird, because this is a very open and accepting campus and you'd think the closeted folks would wake up and give that nonsense up. but they don't, and they act so ashamed when i see them in the uptown gay bars. "ooooh, don't see me!" is the face i get.

contrast this to where my mom lives and works, where literally every gay person is in the closet. people come out to her because she is a physician and has to know, and she says she can't guess how many live in the community but that it's waaaay higher than most folks would guess.

my opinion is that closets make for more gay people. when it's no big deal, and we're accepted, i think 'gay' loses it's exotic, extra-weird, special quality and becomes just another facet of human diversity.

[sleipnir]

14. I think you got it right, ursacorwin

Yeah, I'd venture to say 25% of America has some sort of "homosexual" tendancy, on some level. But as far as the "out and proud" catagory, you're right, it's probably close to 10%. I work in entertainment, so I'm not the guy to ask...50% of my friends are gay, so I really have no clue on a national average.

[MuseRider]

18. My response #13

since we are from the same place, we are probably not seeing the real numbers since we both are in the entertainment field but still, I can't imagine it is as low as 10%.

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. 6-12 beers and it's 100%

From my experience.

FUCK BUSH Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[Blue_Chill]

15. Your experience is way off

You could put 28 beers in me and I'm still not hooking up with a guy. I don't know where this 'everyones a little gay' idea is coming from but it's way off.

BTW - if you ask me 10% doesn't sound high at all. Let's remember that not all gay men are open and free about it, especially down south where the fundies are just wait around looking for something for them to protest and pray over.

[Cronus Protagonist]

17. My experience is my experience

You might not like to hear that, but maybe we should sit down to a few beers and talk about it. Leave the wife at home...

http://www.cronus.com/agenda

FUCK BUSH Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

19. your post sounds like it's written by a date rapist

Imagine if you had said, "100% of women will have sex with me after 12 beers". How exactly would that come across? I'm just saying...

[Paragon]

20. I know - I alerted the mods before you posted

Totally crosses the line.

[Cronus Protagonist]

24. Wake up and smell the coffee dude.

Some people get a little cranky if they haven't had their morning coffee. I know I do.

FUCK BUSH Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[Paragon]

34. I don't drink the stuff

And between the two of us, I'm pretty sure you're the one who could use the wake-up call.

[Cronus Protagonist]

22. Hehe. You people need to get a sense of humor

Or is joking around also outlawed here at DU lately....?

No, I checked. It's not. Have a few more beers. You'll come round....

FUCK BUSH Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[Blue_Chill]

29. You are a creepy dude

But if you think alcohol makes people gay for a time, then well you live in fantasy land. Sounds to me like you are picking up gay men and they only let you touch them if they drink.

You sound like the gay version of a straight frat boy.

[Silverhair]

16. 10% is way too high, and 1% is too low. There isn't...

any hard and fast data on this. Many gays, for good personal reasons, are still in the closet. Some are simply private people and believe it isn't any of anybody else's business which way they swing, others may still face dificulties if they are out.

Other methods of estimating the percentage are also unreliable, as they are based on behavior, and gays, like other people, will behave differently. Still marketing data is probably the best. I can't remember where I read it so I can't give a link. The figure I saw was around 3% for men. I have no information at all on lesbians.

[carolinayellowdog]

21. A million belong to same-sex couples living together

according to the Census Bureau; here's a link:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/projects/census/8_8_01gay_couples.html

And 5% of voters identified as gay/lesbian in 1996 according to USAVoteNet.

[helleborient]

23. It gets way more complicated when you figure in bisexuality...

Bisexual people in same gender relationships are counted as homosexual usually...and bisexual people in hetero relationships are usually assumed to be hetero. Then there are those in multiple relationships...

Sexuality is way more complex than homo and hetero.

[Yupster]

25. Here's a number

in the 2000 exit poll, the question was asked, are you gay or lesbian. The result was 4 % yes, 96 % no. I would assume gays vote in at least the same rate as non-gays, if not more.

Gore won the gay vote 70-25.

[dreissig]

27. It's Actually 9.58%

The error is due to rounding.

[opihimoimoi]

33. OMG, this means we have 7,809,273.74 Gay Pubs out there

All in the closet too?

"Com'n Bruce, lets go get'um, flushum out. We have the makings of a huge Party. And to think we been looking for new partners" They was here all the time" I be damned"

[election_2004]

30. There's no way to figure it out!

To figure out the percentage of homosexuals in the country, you would have to take every single person in the U.S. who's alive right now and give them a series of *stimulation* tests. This is logistically impossible to do - - much less to determine results from.

And no, I disagree that "everyone is bi, just on a sliding scale."

I have never gotten an erection from a female, and I don't foresee on it happening anytime soon.

[Scott Lee]

31. That was the late Dr. Margaret Meade's assessment

And being the preeminent anthropoligist/human behaviorist that she was, I'll take her word for it.

[dreissig]

32. Margaret Mead Was a Phony

"Coming of Age in Samoa" has been discredited. She made it up.

[msmcghee]

37. Kinsey concluded , after spending twenty years . .

. . studying the sexual habits of Americans at midcentury, that "One in ten men has strong homosexual tendencies for at least three years of his life between the ages of 16 and 55."

Evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson estimates that the lower limit of his 8 - 13% figure has been surprisingly stable throughout history.

This is from the book "Sex, Time and Power" by Dr. Leonard Schlain page 236.

[KensPen]

40. If the percentage is really that high...

should I be offended that no guys have come on to me?