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So how big is the LGB population anyway?
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Percentage of gays and lesbians in the population low, says survey.
"The results seem to indicate some respondants were not prepared to tell the truth about their sexuality"
Usually pitched somewhere around the 5- or 6% mark, a recent survey apparently shows that the percentage of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in the general population could be as low as 3%.
While research conducted by Kinsey half a century ago seemed to indicate that a huge percentage of the population had enjoyed same-sex experiences, this poll by Hunter College of 768 people seems to indicate that numbers of people actually identifying as gay are pretty small.
However, the fact that only 3.6% of respondants who claimed to be gay, lesbian or bisexual was over 65 and that those who responded that they were LGB were younger than the average age of respondants seems to indicate some respondants were not prepared to tell the truth about their sexuality. Lack of willingness to declare sexuality is one reason the British census will not canvas the information in 2011.
The same poll indicated that two out of three people identifying as bisexual were female while two out of three people who said they were gay or lesbian were men.
