overestimate gay population vs eqality

[pellaz]

i would think this would hold true for many countries, the survey was taken in the US tho. I realize in the larger cities the gay population is greater but still we are 3-6% of the general population.

so given the right to marry how could this small percentage (3-6%) change culture or influence general thinking?

a re print, "Americans Overestimate Gay Population – How Will This Affect Fight for Marriage Equality?"

the chart is difficult to read:
-basically data from 2 survays done in 2011 and 2002, where americans thought there were 20-25+% gay population, over a quater of the general population is gay.
-in other words 35% of the straight population thought there was more than 25% Faggots lurking about.

[marshlander]

Crazy. Stats can mean anything, which I suppose is why I always baulked in the days when I inhabited gay.com chatrooms and a chat window would pop up with a single question ... "Stats?"

A few years ago the UK government based the provision of services on a notional figure of there being a 6% gay population. This may be a figure for glbtqi (and it may be higher or lower), but I am more convinced by figures between 1 and 2.5%. Somehow 6% doesn't seem to correspond with the reality I encounter most days. As for 10% and the outrageous 25%, well, that's what dreams are made of

[pellaz]

i read the 10% number was basically a rumor started by Dr. Kinsey in the 1920's. reading some of the history around that time makes me think his statistical analysis was not up to current low standards.

i read another report that a US survey done face to face indicated 2.5% gay but an internet survey conducted gave 6%.

just some critical thinking so we can spread the word as it may be.


you see some surveys where the sample size is like 300.
just cant see how any relevant decisions can be made with that small a sample size when the general population of gays could possible vary 2-15% depending on location.

[Craig]

Well, stats and surveys are not that accurate because there are a lot of people who still in the closet!

[OrphanPip]

We had a thread about this a few months ago I think. People have these kinds of misconceptions all the time, another famous statistic is the amount of the population employed in law enforcement, something under 1%, which people vastly overestimate because of television. If a minority is visible, people notice them more, and their minds jump to weird conclusions. I've had people insist to my face that Muslims will be overpopulating Canada and outnumbering whites within 10 years, despite the fact that they are roughly 300,000 Muslims in Canada.

tl;dr people are stupid.

[princealbertofb]

2.5%? 3%? 4.5%? 6%? 10%? or 25%?
Not one of those percentages matters when it comes to equality... Equality is equality, whether there is 2.5% of the population or 25% of it. Period!!

[princealbertofb]

As for Doctor Kinsey's findings, they were compiled from statistics made by himself and his services over a set sample of people who accepted to talk about their sexuality. We have no guarantee that the numbers were correct, but it was a start to discussing the plurality and variety of sexual conducts and orientations... He may have counted 10% of people who had tried same sex experiences, whether they were living in exclusive same sex couples and partnerships or not... If you count all the men who have sex with men and who don't count themselves as gay, then it will definitely bump up the percentage... There was a scale of 1 to 6 in which Kinsey placed people's preferences going from the exclusively straight to the exclusively gay... So 10% may correspond to the sum of people who were not on the far end of the scale of straightness (ie exclusive). I'd be willing to believe that 10% of the population have experimented same sex intercourse at some point in their lives, whether they've made it a lifestyle or not.

[East]

2.5%? 3%? 4.5%? 6%? 10%? or 25%?
Not one of those percentages matters when it comes to equality... Equality is equality, whether there is 2.5% of the population or 25% of it. Period!!

Often times on some of the debate boards I hear people quote percentages and then they cite democracy=majority rule..and that is only part of the equation. A recent example... Interracial marriage never enjoyed majority support before it became law.

On minority rights....

Democracy therefore requires minority rights equally as it does majority rule. Indeed, as democracy is conceived today, the minority's rights must be protected no matter how singular or alienated that minority is from the majority society; otherwise, the majority's rights lose their meaning. In the United States, basic individual liberties are protected through the Bill of Rights, which were drafted by James Madison and adopted in the form of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. These enumerate the rights that may not be violated by the government, safeguarding—in theory, at least—the rights of any minority against majority tyranny. Today, these rights are considered the essential element of any liberal democracy
http://www.democracyweb.org/majority/principles.php

[ToddYoung]

I like the Kinsey scale thing. It makes a lot of sense to me. Most guys I like aren't actually gay, but are prepared to fool around. If anything, I'd say the percentages, under any system, would show a lower population of gay people than is actually the case. So many gay people are in the closet, married with families and so on.

[KnightShade]

I once worked in a jail for boys and I made a guessitmate that about 10% of the boys in jail were either gay or bi (I lumped the two together in my studies). I don't know what the actual percentage would be for those on the outside of a jail though.

but 10 % is a lot of guys.