Americans' Rights and Perceptions

Americans Have No Idea How Few Gay People There Are

by Garance Franke-Ruta May 31 2012, 2:17 PM ET 

From The Atlantic Magazine's online edition:

 

“Surveys show a shockingly high fraction think a quarter of the country is gay or lesbian, when the reality is that it's probably less than 2 percent.”

Here's an excerpt from that article. We'll discuss below:

One in ten. It's the name of the group that puts on the Reel Affirmations gay and lesbian film festival in Washington, D.C., each year. It's the percent popularized by the Kinsey Report as the size of the gay male population. And it's among the most common figures pointed to in popular culture as an estimate of how many people are gay or lesbian.
But what percentage of the population is actually gay or lesbian? With the debate over same-sex marriage again an emerging fault line in American political life, the answer comes as a surprise: A lower number than you might think -- and a much, much, much lower one than most Americans believe.
In surveys conducted in 2002 and 2011, pollsters at Gallup found that members of the American public massively overestimated how many people are gay or lesbian. In 2002, a quarter of those surveyed guessed upwards of a quarter of Americans were gay or lesbian (or "homosexual," the third option given). By 2011, that misperception had only grown, with more than a third of those surveyed now guessing that more than 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian. Women and young adults were most likely to provide high estimates, approximating that 30 percent of the population is gay. Overall, "U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian," Gallup found. Only 4 percent of all those surveyed in 2011 and about 8 percent of those surveyed in 2002 correctly guessed that fewer than 5 percent of Americans identify as gay or lesbian.

Don's Comments: It's long been obvious to me, that the perceptions of many Americans are askew when the subject of gays, lesbians, gay marriage, gay adoption, etc., arises. I know hundreds of people. I know a select couple of dozen, intimately. It's true that some of these people may not share my heterosexual orientation. I don't know if any of those in my closest circles of friends, are gay, lesbian, or have those aspirations. There's no reason to know.

It's not that it's taboo or unspeakable in my circles. Quite the contrary, most of those closest to me are similar to me in candor, outspokenness, and willingness to share thoughts and ideology. The truth is, that everyone's individual sexual orientation is personal, and not generally hauled out for casual discussion. Nor does it need to be. It's simply a non-issue.

Considering that premise may make the wildly out of sync perceptions Americans seem to share, about the percentage of gay's in America, more understandable. Recent years have shown a reverse trend in the popularity and exposure of the presence of gay and lesbians in the media. What prime time sit-com would be complete without at least one gay individual in the storyline. Most have a gay couple, or the gay character's gay friend or friends, making appearances on a regular basis. While we're here, we might not overlook the other trends which seem popular on television shows at the current time. You must have an affable black male or outrageous black female character. A Hispanic or Asian character may be substituted, but always central to the storyline. An alien dropping from his spaceship, in 2013, having only prime time series as their grounds for deciding on how America works socially, would have a very skewed perception. In reality, many of us living in rural or suburban America, cannot relate to any of those situations, except to laugh at them on the TV screen.

It's not our reality. I recently left a club that has existed for eight years having had only one ethnic members, in that time. Jimmy Buffett fan clubs are not known for their large percentage of ethnic participants, much like a Jimmy Buffett concert. White middle and upper middle class faces as far ass the eye can see. That leads us further into our glimpse at skewed numbers.

We are all subject to the perceptions we arrive at from the clubs we belong to, the neighborhoods we live in, and the social sets we enjoy. The problem with that is, that it makes it hard to think outside of that restrictive box. We may not know any, or maybe only one or two, gay people. But, we see that all the television shows, the ads for gay rights, the marches we see on the 6:00 PM news from large cities, prove to us that there are gays literally everywhere. It's easy to understand that given the out of sync with reality exposure Middle America gets via the media, that so many people would think there are far more gay people in America, and the World, than there actually are. Interesting that most people surveyed on the street, believe that there are twice as many foreign born people and illegal aliens living in the U.S. than the true numbers prove. Again, these beliefs are based on media insights, not clear headed thought and a little research.

My bottom line is that there is no reason for Middle America to be concerned about the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry, adopt, or inherit one an-others estates. With the percentage of gays in this country being under 5%, and most likely closer to 2%, does it really make any difference to the average citizen? The answer is no. The truth is, whatever your preference in cars, housing, occupation, or even your sexuality, has no bearing whatever on how good a person, neighbor, or citizen you are.

So, why rail against something that doesn't harm you in any way? Why take issue with another American citizen's right to pursue life in his or her, own way? Instead of wasting your thoughts and energy on these trivial matters, why not use your time to help the poor, needy, handicapped, or mentally challenged citizens, who actually may live in your neighborhood. Or, maybe you should be watchful when in your social group, to pick out the abused wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend. It's likelier there is someone in that category in your group, than there is a gay person. Offer them understanding and any help you can provide, which may only be directing them to where help exists.

Instead of focusing on our differences, perceived or actual, lets focus on our sameness. We can all use a little compassion and latitude in the way we live our lives. Let's focus on that.

Don Winfield