Saturday, May 28, 2011

People think 25% of folks are Gay


 So people think that 1 out of 4 peeps are gay?  For real? I guess so.

A new Gallup poll indicates that the average American believes that a quarter of the population is gay or lesbian. Additionally, 35% of those polled think the figure is even higher. 

Participants were asked, "Just your best guess, what percent of Americans today would you say are gay or lesbian?" Only 4% of respondents say less than 5% of Americans are gay. Gallup asked the same question in 2002, with average estimates that 21% of men were gay and 22% of women. 
There is more info here as well. I still think this is a little crazy.

6 comments:

Lauren Elise said...

My guess is about 1/2 the population is part of the LGBT family. :) :) :)

Cubby said...

I think there is less social pressure on straight guys to act overly macho. Perhaps the resulting reduction in machismo is falsely interpreted by others as gayness.

On the other side of the coin, perhaps now that our community is getting more exposure in society (more folks being openly gay and proud), this is making straight people think there are way more gays in the population than they ever thought there were, so they give an artificially high answer to the Gallup poll taker.

Prince Todd said...

Well it is way more than 9% of the human race, that is for sure.

BosGuy said...

As a gay man, that sort of statistic would be a dream come true. Can you imagine how quickly all this bullsh*t we have to deal w/ would evaporate?

Anonymous said...

I tend to be of the opinion that a lot more people are at the middle of the spectrum, but there's so much social and religious pressure to be straight that those who can ignore any same-sex attraction they have, do so. Might also explain why so many people tend to think there's a choice involved; some of them more or less did choose.

SteveA said...

Can't guess a number - but 25% might be a low threshold!

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.