Opinion: The Numbers of the Homosexual Population

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Michael Gryboski

It is commonplace for political ideologists to use numerical rhetoric to defend their beliefs or attack others. Oftentimes these statistics are misleading, misinterpreted, or even just plain false. Many organizations in the homosexual advocacy movement are not above the tactic in its efforts to gain allies and proselytize people to its views. On several occasions, supporters of this movement have either willfully or ignorantly propagated misleading numbers so as to advance their cause in this society. Many of the following may even sound familiar, most likely because they have been continually regurgitated by mass media.

Many advocates for gay rights have claimed that as much as 10 percent of the United States is homosexual, a statistic derived from survey data done by the famous sexologist Alfred Kinsey. There are problems though with the study, mainly that most major studies sharply contradict its findings. Studies throughout the ‘90s found that the homosexual community actually makes up between one and four percent of the population.

It should also be noted that according to the same Kinsey survey, 45 percent of the male population of the U.S. is bisexual, having both heterosexual and homosexual feelings. Given that the modern Kinsey Institute itself acknowledges that the male sample space “included institutionalized men,” one can see how such large and unreliable the numbers appeared.

Another inflation of a statistic, or maybe it was just a plain lie, is a claim regarding the gay adoption debate. According to many pro-gay adoption groups, as many as six to 10 million children are raised by homosexual couples. The number derives from the work of Charlotte J. Peterson, a woman so respected in the field of child psychology that her textbooks are used in some George Mason University classes. As with the 10 percent statistic, this was meant to convey the sheer size of the GLBT community and its contribution to society. And as with the 10 percent statistic, it’s bogus. The problem with saying six to 10 million adopted children are being raised by gay couples is that in the United States only about two million children are adopted, meaning that homosexual couples are raising four to eight million more adopted children than are actually adopted.

Regarding overall same-sex households with children, a 2000 census entitled “Married Couple and Unmarried Partner Households” states that there are 594,000 same-sex households in America today, of which, 33 percent of female same-sex households had children and 22 percent of male same-sex households had children, totaling about 158,000. If there were six million children being raised in gay homes, the average same-sex household would have 37 children. In other words, chalk up another overestimated number.

Speaking of prevalence, the Human Rights Commission has peddled statistics via its 650,000 members. Well, maybe not 650,000 per se. As reported by the Washington Blade, the Washington, D.C.-based organization deems anyone who has donated as little as $1.00 to be a member. Apparently the only way to remove oneself from the list of members is by specific request. The HRC itself refuses to release its actual active member count. Unlike the HRC, the Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays, another homosexual advocacy group, is a bit more honest. Upon taking his position as executive director in 2005, Jody Huckaby reviewed his group’s membership tally and lowered their initial 250,000 estimate to 200,000.

The three examples above showed statistics that various parts of the homosexual advocacy movement propagate regardless of their actual validity.