Poll claims 3.4% of US adults identify as LGBT

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  1. Robert Brown  19 Oct 2012, 8:38pm  Report
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    I wonder where and who they are asking . . . basically you have a better chance of being ‘non-gay’ if you are white . . .

    WHATEVER!!!!

    Robert
    http://www.rainbow-citizen.com

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  2. Ian Bower  19 Oct 2012, 8:48pm  Report
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    Nonsense. We all know the real figure is around 10%

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    1. Lots of things “we all know” turn out to be false. That’s why they do these surveys,

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    2. If you read carefuly, you will see that around 9% young women identified as LGBT. Since they don’t have to be afraid of social stigma of being gay (unlike young men) I would take that number as more accurate. You can see that. You can see that men’s numbers are much lower, and decline sharply with age which means one thing – CLOSET.

      And anyway, these numbers still much better than in UK ONS poll. Why? Isn’t UK more liberal than US? Why american men have less fear to come out?

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      1. “Since they don’t have to be afraid of social stigma of being gay (unlike young men)”

        Really?? I don’t think hat’s true at all. Any society that stigmatises LGBT people will stigmatise them ALL, and while society picks out different aspects to stigmatise gay men with (many of which are linked to denirgating women), lesbians are stigmatised for different reasons but just as much. It’s no easier to be a gay woman than to be a gay man.

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  3. These figures are completely unfounded and irrelevant. They are also meaningless and an insult to human intelligence. What a waste- please give us some credibility Pink News!

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  4. Peter S.  19 Oct 2012, 9:14pm  Report
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    Pink News didn’t report the most important part of the survey findings, but others like GayStarNews did..

    The people who conducted the survey, and analysed the results, said:

    ‘The 3.4% estimate can best be represented as adult Americans who publicly identify themselves as part of the LGBT community when asked in a survey context’.

    And on that basis, the findings are going to be pretty accurate, I’d say.

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    1. So the survey can not take into account those who do not “publicly” identify themselves as LGBT?

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      1. Peter S.  19 Oct 2012, 10:13pm  Report
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        Well no, of course it can’t account for those who ‘do not publicly identify themselves as part of the LGBT community when asked in a survey context’..

        How could it~

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        1. I was trying to emphasise the point that many opponents use figures produced by these surveys to point out what a small minority LGBT is while ignoring the likelyhood of many respondents giving misleading answers for a variety of reasons.

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          1. Marianne  21 Oct 2012, 9:27am  Report
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            The thing is though, we shouldn’t even be bothering to argue with the fundies over whether it’s 1% or 10%, the amount is entirely irrelevant. The Jewish population is a little under 0.2% of the world’s population, but (at least in Western countries) that would never be considered a suitable reason to give Jewish people less rights.

  5. More people either didn’t know or refused to answer the question than actually identified as LGBT. I’d guess that most of those are LGBT whether or not they identify as such.

    The ONS also carries out this kind of survey in the UK. About 6% of people do not identify as heterosexual in the ONS survey.

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  6. Some people and organisations such as the Christian Institute and the Daily Mail seem intent on minimising the actual number of LGBT people in Britain. The most likely reason is that they believe that the rest of the population will be less likely support equal rights (eg marriage equality) for a small minority.

    That’s one reason why the rights of minorities should not be subject to a popular vote.

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  7. Christopher in Canada  19 Oct 2012, 11:50pm  Report
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    Isn’t it enough to identify as “human”?

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    1. Peter S.  20 Oct 2012, 12:35am  Report
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      No, of course it isn’t. What a soppy, vacuous thing to say~

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    2. Dave North  21 Oct 2012, 2:31pm  Report
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      Would be nice.

      Unfortunately humanity isn’t quite there yet.

      Religion, greed and power lust must be overcome before we get there.

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  8. New Aussie  20 Oct 2012, 11:03am  Report
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    Surveys and polls are a very poor way of assessing a factor of identity where there is still shame and prejudice about. Consider this, most of these polls are not anonymous and even the ones that are show quite a variation. People are also allowed to refuse to participate with around 40% in most surveys – you would have to assume that any gay people wouldrather not discuss what they do in bed with a complete stranger. Over time there has also been an upward trend as society becomes more liberal.

    The only accurate way to assess this in men would be to take a thousand men, strip them naked and expose them to gay and straight porn and measure the degree of erection to each. That would obviously be unethical but it would at least be accurate.

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  9. When the time comes where all LGBT people can identify themselves and be counted safely – we won’t need to.

    Given that the US still has no federally protection for LGBT citizens and people can and do lose jobs, be vilified, be treated with institutional level enmity, I wouldn’t be surprised if many people simply stayed in their closet for the sake of future and personal security.

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  10. In the 50s a large-scale survey of newspaper reading habits in the US discovered that the number of people who said they bought a particular tacky tabloid was much too small to account for the number of copies sold. On the other hand, the number of people who said they bought a prestigious broadsheet was much too big to explain its relatively more modest circulation.
    Whether the subject is trivial or serious, shame, stigma, and other socially conditioned feelings make people lie.

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  11. Rhayven  23 Oct 2012, 5:08pm  Report
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    ‘Identify as’…Not “are.’

    Also, another case of people saying ‘LGBT’ and only meaing ‘LGB’…

    ‘Those who were older were less likely to be open about their sexuality.’

    Sexuality =/= Gender Identity…

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  12. Dangermouse  26 Oct 2012, 10:22pm  Report
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    wel now in my survey of the men I’ve had sex with in the past 45 years, 10% are out gay and 90% are either in the closet or married. So ………………..

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