How many gay people are there in Britain?
Between 1989-1990, a National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) of nearly 19,000 people was undertaken in Britain. The survey examined a cross section of people throughout the country, and looked at their sexual attitudes and behaviour, including people's same sex sexual experiences. The NATSAL survey was repeated between 1999-2001; this time the subject group involved less people, at just over 11,000. The results of the study provide us with an interesting comparison of how same sex sexual behaviour is changing in Britain.
Among men they found the following results;
NATSAL I (%) 1990 NATSAL II (%) 2000
Ever had a sexual experience, not necessarily including genital contact, with a partner of the same sex? 5.3 8.4
Ever had sex with a same sex partner, including genital contact? 3.7 6.3
Have you had a same sex partner in the last five years? 1.4 2.6
And among women they found these results;
NATSAL I (%) 1990 NATSAL II (%) 2000
Ever had a sexual experience, not necessarily including genital contact, with a partner of the same sex? 2.8 9.7
Ever had sex with a same sex partner, including genital contact? 1.9 5.7
Have you had a same sex partner in the last five years? 0.6 2.6
The differences in the two NATSAL surveys clearly indicate the changes that have been occurring in people's same sex sexual attitudes and behaviours. The greatest change is highlighted in the increase in women who have indicated that they have had a same sex sexual experience, not necessarily including genital contact, as this increased from 2.8% in 1990 to 9.7% in 2000. More men said that they had had a same sex sexual experience too, up from 5.3% in 1990 to 8.4% in 2000, thus showing that either same sex sexual behaviour is either on the increase or that people are more willing to report it.
When looking at same sex sexual attraction, and not necessarily sexual experience, the figures have also changed over the ten-year period, with women showing the most significant difference. In 1990, 93.3% of men said they had only ever had sexual attraction towards the opposite sex, whilst by 2000 this had fallen to 91.9%. 93.6% of women in 1990 said they had only ever been attracted to men, but by 2000 this had dropped to 88.3%. From this we can therefore deduce that 11.7% of women and 8.1% of men have felt a sexual attraction towards the same sex at least once in their lives.1, 2
How many young gay people are there in Britain?
Among men they found the following results;
NATSAL I (%) 1990 NATSAL II (%) 2000 16-17 yrs 18-19 yrs 20-24 yrs NATSAL II Average, 16-24 years
Ever had a sexual experience with a same sex partner? 4.3 1.2 5.6 6.3 4.3
Ever had sexual intercourse/genital contact with a same sex partner? 2.4 1.2 2.3 4.2 2.6
And among women they found these results;
NATSAL I (%) 1990 NATSAL II (%) 2000 16-17 yrs 18-19 yrs 20-24 yrs NATSAL II Average, 16-24 years
Ever had a sexual experience with a same sex partner? 3.0 5.1 9.7 12.6 9.1
Ever had sexual intercourse/genital contact with a same sex partner? 1.4 2.5 4.6 6.5 4.5
By adding the three figures for each category in NATSAL II, and getting an average percentage, we can at least gain some comparison between the two sets of data. The differences are again most apparent in women, especially in the sexual experience category, with the figure rising from only 3.0% in 1990 to 9.1% in 2000. The differences in men are less obvious, with the average for sexual experience for 2000 being the same as 1990, at 4.3%. What you can deduce from the male data is that same sex sexual experience does increase more rapidly over the age of 18 years; the data for 18-19 years and 20-24 years, at 5.6% and 6.3% respectively, is higher than the whole 16-24 year average of 4.3%.
How many gay people are there in America?
As well as the problems outlined above in estimating the number of gay people, the geographical size and dense population presents an additional problem for anybody trying to calculate the number of gay people in America.
However, Alfred Kinsey carried out research in the 1940s and 1950s into the sexual behaviour of 12,000 men and women in America. Although his work has been heavily criticised it remains a rare and relatively authoritative study of sexual behaviour in America.
Amongst the men he found:
* 37% reported some homosexual contact;
* 13% reported more homosexual than heterosexual contact;
* 4% reported exclusively homosexual contact.
Amongst the women he found:
* 13% reported some homosexual contact;
* 4% reported more homosexual than heterosexual contact;
* 1% reported exclusively homosexual contact.
From these results Kinsey realized that not only were few people exclusively homosexual, but also far from the vast majority, particularly of men, were exclusively heterosexual. This led him to develop an orientation scale, which had exclusively heterosexual and exclusively homosexual at opposite ends with a wide middle range to cater for the majority of people who were neither.
More recently, data has been collected in America, during the ten-year national census, on married and unmarried-partner households. They did not ask the actual sexual orientation of the respondents, so there is no measure of single gay people, nor is their a measure of those gay people in committed relationships but not living together. Whilst the census cannot give us a figure for the number of people who are gay in America, it can inform us on how many same-sex partnership households identified themselves in the survey. The 2000 census tells us that
* there are 105.5 million households in the USA.
* 5.5 million of these consist of unmarried partnerships,
* of these, 595,000 consist of same sex partners.
This can be interpreted as there being nearly 1.2 million gay people living with a same sex partner in America. This is a huge increase from the 1990 census, which identified only 145,000 same sex unmarried households. As with the NATSAL survey in the UK, there is undoubtedly a large amount of under reporting in these sorts of surveys. Possible explanations of this include continued prejudice and discrimination against gay people.3
There have been various other surveys in the US that have tried to measure numbers of gay people. An analysis of these surveys by the Human Rights Campaign came up with this conclusion.
'In the last three elections, the Voter News Service exit poll registered the gay vote between 4 percent and 5 percent. While concluding that the Census 2000 undercounted the total number of gay or lesbian households, for the purposes of this study, we estimate the gay and lesbian population at 5 percent of the total U.S. population over 18 years of age, (209,128,094). This results in an estimated total gay and lesbian population of 10,456,405. A recent study of gay and lesbian voting habits conducted by Harris Interactive determined that 30 percent of gay and lesbian people are living in a committed relationship in the same residence. Using that figure, we suggest that 3,136,921 gay or lesbian people are living in the United States in committed relationships in the same residence. '4
So, if we accept that the data presented by the Human Rights Commission is indeed indicative of the real numbers, then it shows that the census data is only showing up a small percentage of the actual number of gay people living in America. Until, however, a nationwide survey is done, asking questions on sexual attitudes and behaviour, then we can only use data and analyses, such as the ones above, to work out an answer to the question of gay people living in America.
Is homosexuality more common now?
Throughout history there have always been people who have had homosexual feelings and experiences. In fact, in some cultures, at some times, these feelings have been celebrated or at least accepted rather than stigmatised. However two major changes in most of Europe and America have taken place, which may have given the impression that homosexuality is now more prevalent than at any other time.
* Images of gay and lesbian people, their lifestyles and the issues they face have become very much more visible in recent years. There are gay and lesbian characters and story-lines in soap operas (e.g. East-Enders (UK), Coronation Street (UK), Melrose Place (USA)), situation comedies (Will and Grace (USA), Absolutely Fabulous (UK)), and very powerful gay and lesbian images and image-makers in popular music and culture (e.g. Pet Shop Boys, Will Young, R.E.M, K.D.Lang,). Programs where contestants rely on public telephone votes to remain or to win have been won by out Gay and Lesbian people for example "Big Brother (UK)", "Fame Academy" and "Popstars (UK)".
* At the same time there have been a series of important struggles for gay and lesbian equality. In Britain this has been marked by demands for the right to be parents (adoptive and natural), the right to fair treatment at work and so on. These have, as has often been intended, attracted considerable media, political and legal attention.
SINCE U ALL LOVE GAY PEOPLE
Re: I Am Calling You Out 
me and him are buddys and I was just doing that cause I felt like it 
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