Thanks for this research report on where we live.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The blog of Billy Glover, one of America’s senior activists for homosexual rights
Billy Glover
Billy Glover
Blog Archive
-
▼
2013
(69)
-
▼
February
(7)
- Gay Press, Gay Power: Great History
- Gay Population Percentages
- What term do we want to use for the person we marr...
- Manimal's Support of LGBT Rights
- Aaron Swartz and Don Slater: Why They Weren't Gay
- Research Query RE: Don Jackson, Alpine Liberation ...
- Some bigots sure do have some motivation for kee...
-
▼
February
(7)
8 comments:
Sadly, we see that you are still unaware of, or simply refuse to use, more scientifically objective qualifiers such as “at minimum” rather than “THE percentage” nor conspicuously acknowledge the folly, even in 2013, of believing that anything approaching the actual percentages of LGBTs would be willing to trust a stranger over the telephone with that information.
We get that you mean well, but that’s never enough in any area, and least of all in “science.”
But, do anti-gay people / “researchers” use such qualifiers? I know we must hold ourselves to a high standard, but if we are poining out “news” that proves bigots wrong, I doubt that those dumclucks would accept the news any better if it were couched in more “scientific” terms.
My apologies for expressing myself so poorly, Billy. While I do very much care about it, my larger allegiance is not to “scientific” integrity. It is to my belief that all such polls result in an UNDERestimate of the numbers of LGBT people which is, then, exploited by our enemies to assert that we are not a large enough group to justify change.
Thus, the failure to qualify such numbers, e.g., “the percentage of adults in North Dakota who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is AT MINIMUM 1.7%” damages us in practical as well as academic terms.
You may be unaware of the background and why I too have concern about this issue. You should know that ONE—based not just on Kinsey's figures, but common sense—supported the statistics that say we are 10% of all populations, at all times, places. It is complicated as it is not always the SAME people. Kinsey said that only about 4% are constant, others practice it, by choice or necessity (prison, etc.) but wil also act heterosexually. But much research finds that many men say they have had a homosexual experience, active mostly or passive, in their life. SO, we have had to defend our belief as much from closeted “gays” as from bigots trying to say we are a small minority. It has been sad that closeted people would trust bigots’ figures more than ours—they attacked Kinsey as much as the bigots, including academics. It is less often today.
BUT as we have said always, it does not matter how many of us there are, are rights come as individuals, as American citizens. This was true of black Americans even under slavery and later jim Crow laws, etc. And the Supreme Court essentially said this in the Colorado decision-saying that it was animosity of some that tried to force every individual who might be homosexual into a minority/group. The issue still is alive. Are we are a special class-not so much as Harry Hay said, but as a legal group that is-like blacks, etc-viewed differently.
I do not think that the recently published statistics are wrong. Taken for what they are: How many people would answer a neutrally worded question about their sexual orientation as either or? As one who studied at Kinsey under C.A.Tripp and John Money, I find these figures about what I would expect in today’s world. The two mentioned above and James L McCary and I frequently discussed the numbers. The 10% speculation has always been a fantasy without basis. The one in seven figure popular in the early 1970s was equally specious (and it was a figure that was to apply only to males). Kinsey devised the 0-7 scale that produced a curve skewed toward the 0 (heterosexual) end but I could always get a laugh saying “...more people engage in same gender contact than admit doing so and the real question is: Are they doing it well?”
When one translates these numbers for political purposes (as we have in Houston) the issue is not do you have a majority of the votes but do you have 50% + 1 vote of the margin between the two leading candidates? The reality of Houston GLBT political experience is that far more non-GLBT voters follow our endorsements than members of our own community.
While I disagree, the obvious question again is why would anyone believe the bigots’ statistics either? I am not sure I understand the last sentence, but if I do it says what we experienced about statistics and our saying that we were not sick, sinful or criminal. They were afraid to attend meetings or be on a mailing list of an organization working to make their lives better, but would risk everything to go to a gay bar knowing it could be raided, the cops would take down their car license, etc. But non-gay people could listen to our words and consider them objectively. And non-gay attorneys would handle our court cases. Non-gay landlords would rent office space and print our magazine, etc. And apparently all the gay actors would have great parties and then joke about those silly people at ONE trying to change the world. Well....
The recent poll of people calling themselves LGBT says:
The percentage of adults in the United States who identify as lesbian, gay,
bisexual or transgender (LGBT) ranges from 1.7% in North Dakota to 5.1% in
Hawaii and 10% in the District of Columbia, according to findings from a new study released by Williams Institute Distinguished Scholar, Gary Gates, and Gallup Editor-in-Chief, Frank Newport. Most states are within 2 percentage points of the nationwide average of 3.5%.
I wonder how many times bisexuals get counted in such polls. My life experiences say lots of people, especially lots of women should call themselves bisexual.
I agree. I think the theory is that we are all mammals and thus bisexual. I m not, but that doesn't prove anything. I think it is common sense that women can have sex easier either way-men have to be able to get an erection.
Post a Comment