FYI

What is the percentage of people who identify as LGBT in the United States?

Think of a percentage before you move on--and write it in the comments too or let me know somehow what you thought!  I'm curious.


One person I talked to today--they did admit that they were ignorant about these sorts of things and knew they would be wrong--thought it was 30%.


Which would actually be crazy.  like nearly 1 in 3 people are gay?  But they weren't that far off from what most of America thinks.

Just for the sake of other gay people, for the consideration how same-sex marriage will impact straight couples, and for general knowledge, the actual percentage is more like 4%.  FOUR percent.  11% of people may experience some same-sex attraction, but the actual percentage of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is more like 4%.

I just consider it absolutely hilarious that a lot of people (like 35% of America) think that at least 1 in 4 people are gay (52% of America thinks it's at least 1 in 5... and I'm saying it's hilarious not in a derogatory way... just a... my goodness, I would NOT be so alone if that were truly the case), and yet they act like there are no gay people in the Church?  how does that even.

That would basically mean that we are so incredibly bad at ministering to a QUARTER of the population that none of them exist in the Church.  That would be so ridiculous.

The sad thing is that some people believe that there are that many gay people, and they apparently don't care that none of them are in the Church.

So I guess in some ways, it's good that the number is much smaller.  Good job media representation of gay people (actually queer representation in the media is pretty sucky, buuut, something must have gone right for people to think that over 25% of people are LGBT)!  But still, the number of gay people that people think exist in America is rather important for how people deal with LGBT issues and how much they think these issues will affect them and the U.S.

Just something to keep in mind and maybe try asking people what they think the percentage of people who identify as LGBT in America is.