Gay demographer estimates U.S. LGBT population
Gay demographer Gary Gates from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, a think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles, has attempted to estimate the number of American adults who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Gathering information from existing population surveys, Gates came up with a figure of nearly 9 million.
The research suggests that 1.7 percent of American adults identify as gay or lesbian, 1.8 percent identify as bisexual and 0.3 percent identify as transgender. Many more women than men say they are bisexual.
Gates also found that 8.2 percent of American adults "report that they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior" and 11 percent "acknowledge at least some same-sex sexual attraction."
In response to the data, some LGBT activists and commentators said that surveying people about gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender identity, behavior or feelings results in an undercount of the LGBT population because many people do not answer honestly.
