Homosexual Groups Back Off From "10 Percent" Myth
A coalition of leading pro-homosexual activist groups has now admitted in a legal brief that only "2.8 percent of the male, and 1.4 percent of the female, population identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual."[1]
The admission is in stark contrast to the popular myth that 10 percent of the population is homosexual. For example, a web search for the words "10 percent gay" returned 124,000 hits, including: a gay-oriented shopping site for "10% Productions;"[2] numerous homosexual student groups on college campuses called the "Ten-Percent Society;"[3] "tenpercentbent," described as "the e-zine for glbt [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender] youth;"[4] and the "Ten Percent Revue," an off-Broadway musical described as a "celebration of gay life."[5] Groups promoting a pro-homosexual agenda in schools endorse books entitled "One Teenager in Ten: Writings by Gay and Lesbian Youth," a sequel titled "Two Teenagers in Twenty," and another book called "One Teacher in Ten: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories."[6]
The admission that the actual size of the homosexual or bisexual population is far smaller came in an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Lawrence v. Texas. In the case, which was decided in June of 2003, homosexual activists successfully sought to have a Texas law barring homosexual sodomy declared unconstitutional. The brief was filed by a coalition of 31 pro-homosexual activist groups, including some of the leading national organizations like the Human Rights Campaign; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); and the People for the American Way Foundation.
The unusually candid statement about the relatively low number of homosexuals in the population appeared on page 16 of the brief. The text contains the assertion, "There are approximately six million openly gay men and women in the United States, and 450,000 gay men and lesbians in Texas."[7] After the national figure there appears a footnote, number 42 in the brief.
The actual footnote at the bottom of the page reads as follows (in its entirety):
The most widely accepted study of sexual practices in the United States is the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS). The NHSLS found that 2.8 percent of the male, and 1.4 percent of the female, population identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. See Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (1994). This amounts to nearly 4 million openly gay men and 2 million women who identify as lesbian.[8]
Unfortunately, despite their candor about the small percentage of the population that is homosexual, the authors of the brief still managed to overestimate the actual number of "openly gay men and women" by more than a third. That's because the figures of "4 million openly gay men and 2 million women who identify as lesbian" were apparently arrived at by multiplying the 2.8 percent and 1.4 percent figures by the total number of males and females in the U.S. population. Yet it hardly seems reasonable to count any of the 60 million Americans who are fourteen years old or younger (and particularly the 40 million who are nine or younger) as "openly gay men and women."[9]
If one applies the percentage figures from the NHSLS instead to only the population of men and women 18 years old or more, one arrives at an estimate that perhaps 4.3 million Americans (2.8 million men and 1.5 million women) identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual.[10] It is important as well to note that the "bisexual" component in that is fairly high. In fact, the percentage of the population that identifies exclusively as homosexual (not bisexual) is only 2 percent for men and 0.9 percent for women, or about 2 million men and slightly less than a million women.[11] And even an exclusive homosexual self-identification is not always matched by similarly exclusive behavior. The NHSLS found that only 0.9 percent of men and 0.4 percent of women reported having only same-sex sexual partners since age 18, a figure that would represent a total of only about 1.4 million Americans (men and women combined).[12]
In fact, the book on the NHSLS that was cited in the homosexual groups' brief refers as well to "the myth of 10 percent," noting that it was probably drawn from part of the research of Alfred Kinsey.[13] However, even Kinsey actually concluded that only "4 percent of the white males are exclusively homosexual throughout their lives."[14] And the book by Laumann et al. notes that Kinsey used research methods that "would all tend to bias Kinsey's results toward higher estimates of homosexuality (and other rarer sexual practices) than those he would have obtained using probability sampling."[15]
The Laumann book also mentions in a footnote that "Bruce Voeller (1990) claims to have originated the 10 percent estimate as part of the modern gay rights movement's campaign in the late 1970s to convince politicians and the public that 'We [gays and lesbians] Are Everywhere.' At the time, Voeller was the chair of the National Gay Task Force"--forerunner to one of the groups represented by the recent brief.[16]
END NOTES
1. Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Pride At Work AFL-CIO, People For the American Way Foundation, Anti-Defamation League, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Society of American Law Teachers, Soulforce, Stonewall Law Association of Greater Houston, Equality Alabama, Equality Florida, S.A.V.E., Community Center of Idaho, Your Family, Friends and Neighbors, Kansas Unity and Pride Alliance, Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians, Equality Mississippi, Promo, North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Attorneys, Cimarron Foundation of Pride Movement, Alliance for Full Acceptance, Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah, and Equality Virginia. Amicus Curiae in support of petitioners. Lawrence and Garner v. State of Texas, No. 02-102 (U.S. March 26, 2003), 16.
The admission is in stark contrast to the popular myth that 10 percent of the population is homosexual. For example, a web search for the words "10 percent gay" returned 124,000 hits, including: a gay-oriented shopping site for "10% Productions;"[2] numerous homosexual student groups on college campuses called the "Ten-Percent Society;"[3] "tenpercentbent," described as "the e-zine for glbt [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender] youth;"[4] and the "Ten Percent Revue," an off-Broadway musical described as a "celebration of gay life."[5] Groups promoting a pro-homosexual agenda in schools endorse books entitled "One Teenager in Ten: Writings by Gay and Lesbian Youth," a sequel titled "Two Teenagers in Twenty," and another book called "One Teacher in Ten: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories."[6]
The admission that the actual size of the homosexual or bisexual population is far smaller came in an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Lawrence v. Texas. In the case, which was decided in June of 2003, homosexual activists successfully sought to have a Texas law barring homosexual sodomy declared unconstitutional. The brief was filed by a coalition of 31 pro-homosexual activist groups, including some of the leading national organizations like the Human Rights Campaign; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); and the People for the American Way Foundation.
The unusually candid statement about the relatively low number of homosexuals in the population appeared on page 16 of the brief. The text contains the assertion, "There are approximately six million openly gay men and women in the United States, and 450,000 gay men and lesbians in Texas."[7] After the national figure there appears a footnote, number 42 in the brief.
The actual footnote at the bottom of the page reads as follows (in its entirety):
The most widely accepted study of sexual practices in the United States is the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS). The NHSLS found that 2.8 percent of the male, and 1.4 percent of the female, population identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. See Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (1994). This amounts to nearly 4 million openly gay men and 2 million women who identify as lesbian.[8]
Unfortunately, despite their candor about the small percentage of the population that is homosexual, the authors of the brief still managed to overestimate the actual number of "openly gay men and women" by more than a third. That's because the figures of "4 million openly gay men and 2 million women who identify as lesbian" were apparently arrived at by multiplying the 2.8 percent and 1.4 percent figures by the total number of males and females in the U.S. population. Yet it hardly seems reasonable to count any of the 60 million Americans who are fourteen years old or younger (and particularly the 40 million who are nine or younger) as "openly gay men and women."[9]
If one applies the percentage figures from the NHSLS instead to only the population of men and women 18 years old or more, one arrives at an estimate that perhaps 4.3 million Americans (2.8 million men and 1.5 million women) identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual.[10] It is important as well to note that the "bisexual" component in that is fairly high. In fact, the percentage of the population that identifies exclusively as homosexual (not bisexual) is only 2 percent for men and 0.9 percent for women, or about 2 million men and slightly less than a million women.[11] And even an exclusive homosexual self-identification is not always matched by similarly exclusive behavior. The NHSLS found that only 0.9 percent of men and 0.4 percent of women reported having only same-sex sexual partners since age 18, a figure that would represent a total of only about 1.4 million Americans (men and women combined).[12]
In fact, the book on the NHSLS that was cited in the homosexual groups' brief refers as well to "the myth of 10 percent," noting that it was probably drawn from part of the research of Alfred Kinsey.[13] However, even Kinsey actually concluded that only "4 percent of the white males are exclusively homosexual throughout their lives."[14] And the book by Laumann et al. notes that Kinsey used research methods that "would all tend to bias Kinsey's results toward higher estimates of homosexuality (and other rarer sexual practices) than those he would have obtained using probability sampling."[15]
The Laumann book also mentions in a footnote that "Bruce Voeller (1990) claims to have originated the 10 percent estimate as part of the modern gay rights movement's campaign in the late 1970s to convince politicians and the public that 'We [gays and lesbians] Are Everywhere.' At the time, Voeller was the chair of the National Gay Task Force"--forerunner to one of the groups represented by the recent brief.[16]
END NOTES
1. Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Pride At Work AFL-CIO, People For the American Way Foundation, Anti-Defamation League, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Society of American Law Teachers, Soulforce, Stonewall Law Association of Greater Houston, Equality Alabama, Equality Florida, S.A.V.E., Community Center of Idaho, Your Family, Friends and Neighbors, Kansas Unity and Pride Alliance, Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians, Equality Mississippi, Promo, North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Attorneys, Cimarron Foundation of Pride Movement, Alliance for Full Acceptance, Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah, and Equality Virginia. Amicus Curiae in support of petitioners. Lawrence and Garner v. State of Texas, No. 02-102 (U.S. March 26, 2003), 16.
2. Web search, www.google.com, June 5, 2003. www.10percent.com.
3. Web search, www.google.com, June 5, 2003. http://tps.studentorg.wisc.edu/.
4. Web search, www.google.com, June 5, 2003. www.tenpercentbent.com/.
5. Web search, www.google.com, June 5, 2003. www.broadwayplaypubl.com/tenp.htm.
6. Web search, www.google.com, June 5, 2003. http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/educator/booklink/record/1525.html, http://www.epfl.net/booklists/booklist2.cfm?LIST_ID=33
7. Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Pride At Work AFL-CIO, People For the American Way Foundation, Anti-Defamation League, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Society of American Law Teachers, Soulforce, Stonewall Law Association of Greater Houston, Equality Alabama, Equality Florida, S.A.V.E., Community Center of Idaho, Your Family, Friends and Neighbors, Kansas Unity and Pride Alliance, Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians, Equality Mississippi, Promo, North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Attorneys, Cimarron Foundation of Pride Movement, Alliance for Full Acceptance, Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah, and Equality Virginia. Amicus Curiae in support of petitioners. Lawrence and Garner v. State of Texas, No. 02-102 (U.S. March 26, 2003), 16.
8. Ibid.
9. "American Fact Finder." United States Census Bureau. June 5, 2003. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_Uandgeo_id=01000USandqr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1.
10. Ibid.
11. Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 1994), Table 8.3B, 311.
12. Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 1994), Table 8.3A, 311.
13. Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 287.
14. Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 288.
15. Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago:The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 289.
16. Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 289, footnote 7; citing Bruce Voeller, "Some uses and abuses of the Kinsey scale," in Homosexuality-Heterosexuality: Concepts of Sexual Orientation, ed. David P. McWhirter, Stephanie A. Saunders, and June Machover Reinisch (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).
posted by Jason at 11/19/2004 04:32:00 PM
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