How Many Gays? 3.4% US adults LGBT

“Contemporary media often think of LGBT people as disproportionately white,male,urban and pretty wealthy,” said the report’s lead author,demographer Gary Gates of the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute. “But this data reveal that relative to the general population,the LGBT population has a larger proportion of nonwhite people and clearly is not overly wealthy”.

According to the survey,which was conducted between June and September,4.6 per cent of African-Americans identify as LGBT,along with 4 per cent of Hispanics,4.3 per cent of Asians and 3.2 per cent of whites.

Overall,a third of those identifying as LGBT are nonwhite,the report said.

There was a slight gender difference — 3.6 per cent of women identified as LGBT,compared to 3.3 per cent of men. And younger adults,aged 18 to 29,were more likely than their elders to identify as LGBT.

One striking difference: Among those 18 to 29,8.3 per cent of women identify as LGBT,compared with 4.6 per cent of men the same age.

The survey also asked about political preferences. It found that 44 per cent of the LGBT adults identified as Democratic,43 per cent as independent and 13 per cent as Republican. The survey found 71 per cent of LGBT registered voters supporting President Barack Obama in this year’s election,and 22 per cent supporting Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

In contrast to some previous,smaller studies,the Gallup survey found that identification as LGBT is highest among Americans with the lowest levels of education. Among those with a high school education or less,3.5 per cent identify as LGBT,compared with 2.8 per cent of those with a college degree and 3.2 per cent of those with postgraduate education.

A similar pattern was found regarding income groups. More than 5 per cent of those with annual incomes of less than $24,000 identify as LGBT,compared to 2.8 per cent of those making more than $60,000 a year.

Among those who report income,about 16 per cent of LGBT individuals have incomes above $90,000 per year,compared with 21 per cent of the overall adult population,survey found. It said 35 per cent of those who identify as LGBT report incomes of less than $24,000 a year,compared to 24 per cent for the population in general.

Regarding family status,20 per cent of LGBT individuals said they are married and an additional 18 per cent are living with a partner; they weren’t asked about the gender of those spouses and partners. Among non-LGBT Americans,54 per cent are married and 4 per cent are living with a partner,the report said.

The survey found that 32 per cent of both LGBT and non-LGBT women have children under 18 in their home. By contrast,16 per cent of LGBT men had children in their home,compared to 31 per cent of non-LGBT men.

The results were based on responses to the question,”Do you,personally,identify as lesbian,gay,bisexual,or transgender?” included in 121,290 Gallup interviews conducted between June 1 and September 30. The survey has a margin of sampling error of less than 1 percentage point.

The survey noted that its findings did not account for LGBT people who,for whatever reason,did not want to acknowledge their sexual orientation in the interviews.