Americans Greatly Overestimate U.S. Gay Population

Post by fwip » Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 1:08 AM UTC

tastygreenapple wrote: post #26

tantalor wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> LGBTQ in the American mind share far outsizes their population What does that even mean? Population is one thing, but can mindshare be measured? You're comparing apples and oranges.

Well, what other groups make up 5% of the population and get corporate logos changed in recognition of that group? About 5% of Americans watched the NBA finals, did brands go out of their way to make NBA fans feel included? Do news shows bring on their NBA correspondent to talk about NBA issues?

Post by notJim » Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 1:09 AM UTC

m0th87 wrote: post #4

trackofalljades wrote: post #3

Is it possible that what you're seeing in this data is less about inaccuracy and more about how comfortably out people are? It says the estimates skew greater for younger people and women responding. Well are younger people and women more likely to know which of their friends are LGBT, because of a host of societal reasons that tend to influence men or older folks to wall off their feelings and communicate less about…

4.5% self-report as LGBT. That's an important distinction to make, and I too would be surprised if it's accurate.

Post by ambicapter » Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 1:13 AM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #31

codingslave wrote: post #6

If you look at pride month and the level of marketing and news associated with it, one would estimate that the gay population is huge. Nearly every major corporation on linkedin has a rainbow logo, my uber the other day showed their ride path as a rainbow. The level of influence that LGBTQ currently has in the American mind share far outsizes their population, even now I am worried my account will be banned for menti…

You think, "The level of influence that LGBTQ currently has in the American mind share far outsizes their population". They gained marriage equality only 4 years ago. They are underrepresented in Congress (10/535, about 42% of expected representation based on the 4.5% number cited in the article). Same sex relationships have only been decriminalized for less than 50 years. By any standards they are a historically opp…

Post by tomcatfish » Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 1:20 AM UTC

modeless wrote: post #15

These people were asked to choose between 6 options. Every number in every option was higher than the true value. Is it any wonder people overestimate when primed this way? I wonder how many other poll results people rely on are this obviously biased. Edit: I now believe this is incorrect, see below.

Post by Geimfari » Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 1:24 AM UTC

mynameishere wrote: post #8

The media skews everything. Almost every TV show has a homosexual character, a black computer programmer, and an ass-kicking female martial arts expert. Hollywood has to parade its ideals, after all. And to some extent, it's showing you how urban sophisticates view their own world, amplifying the same skew. I remember some really old poll from a NYC high school (decades ago) in which the students estimated the Jewish…