Activists Dispute Federal LGB Count

As you surely know, anti-gay hate groups and Christian organizations have been doing cartwheels over the recently released CDC survey which reports that just over 2% of Americans collectively self-identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. (The survey questions did not touch upon gender identity.) The Washington Post today notes that activists are calling out the CDC.

“The truth is, numbers matter, and political influence matters,” said Scout, director of the nonprofit CenterLink Network of LGBT Equity, who goes by only one name. “If we really are 2 percent versus 4 percent, it means people are going to say, ‘okay, I’m only going to care half as much,’” he said. Scout and others believe that the survey, which is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is flawed. They point to other surveys, including some scholarly papers and less prominent government studies, that peg the number at closer to 4 percent. The CDC is investigating why its figures, particularly for bisexuals, differ from those in the other surveys. The influential NHIS, which queried about 35,000 adults last year, found that 2.3 percent of the adult population identified as having a same-sex attraction, with 1.6 percent labeling themselves as gay or lesbian and 0.7 percent identifying as bisexual. Another 1.1 percent responded that they were “something else,” did not know the answer, or declined to say, and 96.6 percent said they were straight.

The CDC is defending its survey methods but says that it is looking into why its results were so much lower than other similar polls.

RELATED: A 2012 poll conducted by Canada's Forum Research showed that 5% of the population self-identifies as LGBT.