Gallup Poll: Only 3.4 Percent of US Adults Identify as LGBT
A comprehensive poll released on Thursday by Gallup based on more than 120,000 interviews, shows that only 3.4 percent of Americans say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. These numbers fall far short of the numbers routinely tossed around by pro-homosexual groups who claim that approximately 10 percent or more of the population have homosexual tendencies.
The study is billed as the largest single study of the distribution of LGBT population, with 121,290 interviews conducted between June 1 and Sept. 30 of this year. The margin of error was projected at approximately 1 percent, which is low by poll standards.
The poll asked: Do you personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender?
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Of the total responses, 3.4 percent answered "yes," 92.2 percent said "no" and 4.4 percent refused to answer.
The entire poll can be seen here.
The exact percentage of LGBT Americans has sparked a great deal of debate between pro-family and pro-homosexual activists with the latter routinely using a percentage at 10 percent or even in higher in many instances.
However, the Gallup results mirror that of similar, albeit, smaller studies as far back as 2002. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Survey of Family Growth asked a sexual orientation question of about 12,000 young adults aged 18 to 44 in 2002 and of more than 20,000 adults in its 2006-2010 survey. The 3.4 percent figure is similar to a 3.8 percent estimate made by one of the authors of that study (Gates), averaging a group of smaller U.S. surveys conducted from 2004 to 2008.
Pro-gay organizations are already starting to dispute the 3.4 percent figure as not being an accurate representation of "gay America." Think Progress, an LGBT website had the following commentary on the study.
"These numbers jibe with the analysis conducted by The Williams Institute's Gary Gates last year, which found about 3.8 percent of Americans identify as LGBT," read the website. "It's important to note that there is a difference between how many people openly identify as LGBT and how many people may in fact have ever had same-sex attractions, engaged in same-sex behaviors, or have ever been a part of same-sex relationships."
"As Gates noted, studies have shown that as much as 11 percent had had such attractions and 8.2 percent had had sexual interactions with the same sex. According to the Gallup results, LGBT respondents are more likely to be women, non-white, young, and have lower levels of education and income."
Dr. Michael Brown, author of A Queer Thing Happened to America, says the notion that 1 in 10 people are gay is completely unfounded and simply a "myth." When asked about his response to the survey, he said the Gallup numbers appear to be consistent with what most experts find.
"First, the numbers are no surprise," Brown told The Christian Post. Gallup's sample is so large that it makes inflating the numbers difficult. The pro-homosexual community tends to use double-digit numbers for their own use, but in reality, most gay activists realize the numbers are smaller but just want everyone to believe they are much larger."
Brown went on to say that earlier surveys have reported that many Americans believe the number of homosexuals is much higher than is actually is.
"There are polls among the general population that find many Americans think the LGBT population is as high as 25 percent," said Brown. "Other surveys of young Americans think the number is as high as 30 percent but that's just not the case. This survey just shows there is no way the LGBT community can defend a 1 in 10 number."
Interestingly, minorities and non-whites are more likely to identify themselves as being LGBT than whites. For example, 4.6 percent of black respondents said they were gay, as did 4 percent of Hispanics and 4.3 percent of Asians. Only 3.2 percent of whites said the same.
The poll also showed women and those who had a lower education were more likely to identify themselves as LGBT. The group that responded at the highest level were 18- to 29-year-old females with 8.3 percent identifying themselves as LGBT.
As for marital status, only 1.3 percent of legally married people said they were LGBT. However, 12.8 percent who said they were in a "domestic partnership," said they were such. Another figure that will come as no surprise to most people is that more LGBT Americans live in the East and West regions of the country. The region with the fewest number of LGBT residents is the South.
