"LGBT people are only 2% of the population, so why is it such a big issue?"

2% (which I would say is a very low estimate - I've heard as high as 11% before) of the US' population is still over 6.2 million people - that's more than a quarter of Australia's population. Furthermore, even if we are only 2% of the population, we are far more vocal than such a small percentile would usually be.

So no, I don't ever get worried about it getting swept under the rug. Here in Australia, we've had a lot of coverage over an opt-in school program - Safe Schools - which is designed for teachers and students to be more accepting of queer peers, particularly those trans* students a school might have. Marriage equality is another topic that is still in the spotlight here quite often (since we still don't have it... bloody Liberal Party).

 

Well I'd say yea exactly, we are only 2% so let us live the way we won't.
If there is going to be a withdrawal in the lgbt movement it's going to be after winning equal rights and when being lgbt is just a part and parcel of life . To reach that place there has to be protectitive laws in place and general societal tolerance and acceptance. So this lesser representation when it happens wont be ominous. Further if it turns for the worse a new movement will shape up. And we will be back in the front. So don't worry. We will be fine.
Just compare it with the movement against racism. You will see it's not going to be so bad.

 

Personally, I haven't heard this kind of statement IRL. Still though, it's frustrating. To me it's dubious that it's somehow "correct" for someone to use population statistics to relegate queer people's issues as unimportant. Very illogical. The same kind of logic can be applied to this kind of statement: White people make up less than 30% of the world, so what's up with their issues being at the forefront? Not that their issues should be at the forefront, but that on a racial level the same logic just doesn't make sense because it ignores cultural context.

In the end, any kind of comparison or put-down like that is meant to pit minority problems against each other and break solidarity.

LOL. This exactly.

 

The 2/3% statistic is extremely misleading.

Firstly the actual samples are often very poor, in the UK we had a random household telephone sample done by the office of statistics. The whole survey was quite invasive (which likely skewed responses), and then you have the factor of people being closeted and not giving accurate responses, or being out but giving false responses as they don't feel the government "needs" to know.

When you actually look at either the US CDC survey or the UK ONS survey it is clear there is a great deal more than 2/3% LGBT.

The US Survey

If you look at this it actually shows that 18.9% of women were either LGB, not 100% straight or unsure, and 8% of men were the same. So combined you are looking at about a 13.45% "not 100% straight" population, and that is without factoring in influences like being closeted.

The UK Survey:

In this survey 7% of women and 7.8% of men didn't identify themselves as being straight, and this was a very poorly constructed survey by the way.

If you look at the age groups on that page you will see that actually amongst age 16-24 a much increased 10.7% did not identify as straight (compared to 5.3% in the 65+ category). Now unless society is creating more gay babies or their is "something in the water" this probably indicates that the younger generation are more open now with their sexuality which probably means the 16-24 figure is closer to the truth than the 65+ figure. And again, that is without even factoring in the closet factor.

 

I agree that the 2-3% estimate is probably much too low. Even the conservatives in my country agree that it's at least 5% of the general population.

The problem with most of the surveys is that they often don't define the terms such as gay or straight when they ask about it and if someone identifies as straight or gay it's based on that person's perception what it means to be one. This on the one hand excludes people who don't feel are gay yet engage in same sex sexual or romantic relationships and on the other hand those who might not be entirely sure about their orientation might pick "non-straight" just to be on the safe side.

Surveys that ask about behavior as opposed to orientation find that non-straight behavior is considerably more common than what people identify. This on the one hand probably includes those who have just experimented but is also likely to include closet cases as well. Numbers vary greatly from study to study and country to country. The highest number I have seen is a study from Iran conducted by their Moral Commission in the universities. They found that up to 16% of male university students and 24% of the females students have engaged in homosexual activities although very few actually identify as gay. Lower numbers that I have seen start from 2%. Once again it's hard to compare unless it's clearly specified what act counts as homosexual.

Getting back to the original post. The problem is with framing. If things are framed as "gays issue" then significantly lower proportion of people are going to feel it is not so important compared to the situation where the same issue is framed in more general terms. For example, instead of saying that gay marriage is a LGBT issue it could be presented as freedom of contract issue which touches everyone.

 

The "official" nbers I've seen put gay people around 7%, but with the closet being what it is, it has to be a few points higher. And that often doesn't include bisexual people. Add in Trans people and other sexual/gender minorities and lgbt people are at least 10%

 

Please... 2% that are openly out... maybe.

Conservative estimates put number of trans people who are out at like maybe 1% but those in the closet are like 1 in 20 (5%).

2% is so wrong.

Also, minorities have rights too. Native Americans who ascribe to any semblance of tribal ways are such a small part of the "American" populace but are given tribal lands and essentially sovereignty. I'm pretty sure they had the whole "well its just like 1000 people, hundreds of thousands are going to live here now". You know, the trail of tears.

 

LGTB population = (LGB folks + trans folks) - LGB trans folks


(As I was previewing this, I realized I have a problem: I use the word "folks" too often.)

 

No I'd say more about 10% including Closeted gays not including bi or transgenderers

 

I believe that only 10% of people are straight and only 10% of people are gay. I think 80% of people are at least somewhat bisexual. Did you know that 80% of people who identify as 'straight' have had at least some fantasy of the same sex.

 

"Only 2% of the world's population are red-heads."

Perhaps we should ignore their rights, abuse them, and deny them any chance of happiness because of a genetic difference.



...In which case I'd be in double trouble.

 

Oh trust me, I've had plenty of fantasies. x'D I actually used to say I was bisexual but I that didn't seem to fit. I felt like something was missing. Then I found Pansexual ^o^(!):eusa_danc

---------- Post added 2nd Mar 2016 at 02:36 PM ----------

That concerns me greatly. But I mean, statistics aren't ALWAYS right. Especially you don't take the time to actually look and find the answers you're looking for in order to get the most recent information. I'd appreciate it if they at least look and see that there is more to what meets the eye. Someone can not be straight and you may not even know it. Maybe they can hide it really well, you never know! :icon_wink All I say is, there's a lot more than they think. xD

---------- Post added 2nd Mar 2016 at 02:40 PM ----------

NOOOO PLEASE, I'M JUST A WEE GINGER, I COME IN PEACE! I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL YET, PLEASE DON'T HURT MEE. ;-;

I'm a redhead too I honestly hope the world doesn't come to THAT with the redheads but I mean hey I mean if that happens, we can totally be prison mates if they decide to just throw us all in jail for the rest of our days. xD It's ok, I don't bite, nor will I take your soul.

 

the pecentage here is irrelevant. even if it was just 0.1 % we are still talking about human beings and not giving anyone equal rights for any reason is not cool

 

This is exactly the point. I think most people get confused because of the word LGBT rights. There are no special LGBT rights because in the end it's all about human rights and equal rights. Each person is the smallest minority there is and everyone ought to have the same rights.

 

This is why the conservative argument that LGBT people want "special rights" is such bunk. LGBT people want the same rights that everyone else has; there's nothing "special" here. Some say that same-sex marriage is a special right, but it's not like a straight person would be disallowed from marrying someone of the same sex if they so wished

 

Right. I did ignore lgb. Hence if the estimate is wrong about trans people then you are definetely ignoring another huge population segment. So I thought my point was implied.

 

It's probably about 5%. There's about 9 million people in the US who are shown as LGBT, which is 3%. Add the people not out of the closet or simply not accounted for, we can assume 5%. When you look at more liberal states, where they are more likely to be open about it, the LGBT population is estimated at roughly 5%.

 

10% seems an extremely liberal estimate, most likely including anyone not a Kinsey 0. In an ideal world, "straight" wouldn't exist, but until we can convince them, it doesn't matter what size a population is.

 

I wasn't saying you missed someone. I think I was trying to point out that it almost seems that (based on what I see on EC) most trans people aren't straight, so they probably would more than likely be counted as "LGB." It seems that while most LGB people are cis, most trans people aren't straight. Not sure if that's a fact "in the wild."