Recent headlines about "how many gay people there are" sadly demonstrated once again that no good deed goes unpunished. The latest statistics from The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School should have been extremely validating for the bisexual community's significance within the greater movement for equality across the sexuality and gender identity spectrum. The analysis was not only informative but also inclusive. But once again, the bisexual population was erased from much of the coverage, another lost opportunity for genuine discussion about sexual orientation
A big part of the real news was lost in much or the coverage -- that the findings estimate that 3.5 percent of adults (8 million) in the U.S. identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, with bisexuals representing a slight majority within the group as a whole: 1.8 percent as opposed to 1.7 percent who identify as lesbian or gay. (And another 700,000 are transgender, let's not omit.) In 8 out of 9 surveys, bisexual women outnumbered lesbians to a significant degree. Conversely, gay men had much higher numbers than bisexual men in the majority of the studies.
These statistics fly in the face of what many people would have you believe -- that bisexuals are an insignificant subgroup of the LGBT community that doesn't merit having their different perspective recognized. Clearly, if the LGBT community wants to maximize its political muscle then it needs to give greater weight to these findings and look for ways to activate these often hidden members of our community and provide ways to better serve bisexuals. The Bisexual Resource Center, which I am currently President of, is a 26-year-old organization that provides support for bisexuals and resources about bisexuality. We know we have millions more people we could be reaching -- this report simply confirmed it.
Even as the research findings were disseminated this week, I saw several instances where the press chose to intentionally omit or downplay the elements of the data concerning bisexuals. The Associated Press led with the statistic that there are approximately 4 million gays and lesbians in the U.S. What, the other 4 million bisexuals were just too insignificant to mention? It seems that even when researchers use inclusive methodology to capture more comprehensive LGBT information, the media too often chooses to ignore and erase evidence of a significant bisexual presence.
When these statistics are juxtaposed against the recent report of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, "Bisexual Invisibility: Impacts and Recommendations," the seriousness of neglecting bisexual lives and perspectives is evident. The commission's study showed that:
Part of my reaction to this is that if anyone is experiencing these inequities it shouldn't matter the numbers. But given the Institute's findings, it is important to connect the erasure and denial of bisexuality to these staggering repercussions for our community's health and well-being.
The Williams Institute emphasizes that numbers do matter from a public policy and research perspective. Having stronger evidence that there are 9 million LGBT people is a unifying motivator for our movement. But only if we are all counted.
Ellyn Ruthstrom is the President of the Bisexual Resource Center, based in Boston, MA.
Also, society, as in men, seems to accept the notion that girl on girl action is pretty hot.
I believe that the actual percentages are higher. Even when promised confidentiality, there are still parts of the country where it is so dangerous to be queer that I think people, especially men, simply will still not admit it to anyone. But the point is, that in a truly well-done, recent, truly large N study, amoung young women, in whom it is the most socially acceptable to be queer, close to 10% WILL admit to being queer out loud to a researcher, and 7% more will admit to being the recipient of same-gender sexual activity, It is less socially acceptable for men to be queer, so less of them will admit to it, but we still have 15% of the male population admitting to engaging in having sex with other men, however they identify.
So the 10% figure still holds, and if you include bisexuals, I believe it is actually much higher. Some studies indicate that if you include all the LGBTGQ2IA people (pardon me for anyone I left out, or anyone I included who doesn't want to be there), it's more like a third of the population.
http://www.nationalsexstudy.indiana.edu
This was a well-done study of sexual behavior in the US. They found that of the female adolescents, 0.2% identified as Lesbian, and 8.4% bisexual, and of the male, 1.8% identified as gay, and 1.5% as bisexual. Of the adult females, 0.9% identified as Lesbian, and 3.6% as bisexual, and of the adult males, 4.2% identified as gay, 2.6% as bisexual. However, looking at lifetime behavior, of the entire sample, up to 17% of the whole female sample reported having received oral sex from another female and up to 15% of the whole male sample reported having received oral sex from another male.
More evidence that women are better at multi-tasking, so to speak.Ok, sorry, I just couldn't resist.