4%

[The Double Deuce]

There are less than 3% of the American Population that is Jewish, we obviously should be seeing less of them in so many TV shows and movies as well as they are definitely over-represented. :sssh:

[The Double Deuce]

Also worth noting, the amount of LGBTQ skews much higher the younger you look (for a number of reasons), so the overall percentage (whatever it actually is) is going to continue to rise with each passing year. One recent 2019 study done by the Health Department estimates 11% of 18 and 19 year old American Adults are LGBTQ.

[TheDeuce]

Also worth noting, the amount of LGBTQ skews much higher the younger you look (for a number of reasons), so the overall percentage (whatever it actually is) is going to continue to rise with each passing year. One recent 2019 study done by the Health Department estimates 11% of 18 and 19 year old American Adults are LGBTQ.

 

The more that number grows the better, because that means as a society we are becoming more welcoming.

[The Double Deuce]

Also worth noting, the amount of LGBTQ skews much higher the younger you look (for a number of reasons), so the overall percentage (whatever it actually is) is going to continue to rise with each passing year. One recent 2019 study done by the Health Department estimates 11% of 18 and 19 year old American Adults are LGBTQ.

 

My apologies, the summary I saw erroneously summed two numbers that shouldn't have been. It is 8% of females and 3% of males -- as PP92 pointed out, of those who have had the courage to come out. Doesn't change the fact that it is more and more common the younger we go, and as the other Deuce alluded to, that is a positive in my mind.

 

LGBTQ Youth | HHS.gov

[TheDeuce]

and as the other Deuce alluded to

 

It's THE Deuce, actually.

[Randy Parker]

Has entertainment and public media gone overboard on LGBT? If I asked you the percent of people in the US who identify as LGBT, what would your answer be? When asked in polling what percent of the population is LGBT, people usually estimate between 20-25% of the population. The truth is that the actual number of LGBT is around 4%. That is it. Yet it seems to me that the amount of media and entertainment coverage of LGBT issues and lifestyle is slanted so that you would think the LGBT is well over that perceived 25%.

 

According to Gallup, Americans guess that 23.6% of the population is gay. In reality, Gallup's research shows the number to be 4.5%.

 

Americans Still Greatly Overestimate U.S. Gay Population

[theguru]

I guess I'm watching different programming than the rest of you, because I don't feel like anything is being forced on me. Rather, I feel like a part of the community that has been largely ignored and dismissed for decades is actually being portrayed in entertainment.

 

There's a lot of "get off my lawn" in this thread, if you ask me.

 

It's always fascinating to me to see the majority complain about the minority.

 

Exactly.

 

“Tell those 4%ers to shut the hell up!!!!!”

:lol2: :lol2:

 

I am glad you two took care of things "for me" in this thread. I was ready to come out with a similar response @TheDeuce but now I can sit back and read. :thumb:

[rjs4470]

So since "only 4%" of the population is LGBT, they should only get 4% of the programming, news coverage, rights, etc? What is the cutoff to be be able to be fully recoginized? 8%? 10%?. The fact that people feel this is being "pushed on them" just proves we have a long way to go as a society. I especially love the common sentiment "I don't have any problem with it", like that makes it all better and absolves one of any possible backlash.

 

This is a moment that truly leaves me shaking my head.

[Randy Parker]

So since "only 4%" of the population is LGBT, they should only get 4% of the programming, news coverage, rights, etc? What is the cutoff to be be able to be fully recoginized? 8%? 10%?. The fact that people feel this is being "pushed on them" just proves we have a long way to go as a society. I especially love the common sentiment "I don't have any problem with it", like that makes it all better and absolves one of any possible backlash.

 

This is a moment that truly leaves me shaking my head.

 

GLAAD openly acknowledges the pressure they apply to Hollywood.

[B-Ball-fan]

According to Gallup, Americans guess that 23.6% of the population is gay. In reality, Gallup's research shows the number to be 4.5%.

 

Americans Still Greatly Overestimate U.S. Gay Population

 

I don’t know how anyone can offer any true and accurate estimate. And as @MJAlltheWay24 noted from his class, there are no true 0’s or 10’s.

 

Yes there really are as some people are without doubt 100% straight, and I can tell you with complete certainty that I am 100% gay. But there’s a lot of truth in that 1-10 scale, and various many other folks who aren’t completely gay or straight, are a little of both. Is this being accounted for in the various estimates?

 

Even if you sent out a questionnaire to every household in the world you’re not going to have it answered honestly as some folks are very quietly bi so much that their husbands and wives don’t even realize it, and they’re certainly not going to answer it truthfully.

 

Though I can’t offer any accurate number, I can be for certain that throughout this Planet Earth there are without doubt many millions and millions of people who are gay or bi.

 

I do think that the reason you’re seeing so many younger adults coming out is because years ago many people entered into marriages for fear of being found out, or were so confused they hoped that their gayness would miraculously vanish and that they would just be straight, and that just doesn’t happen, and there’s tons of people who did their hardest to try to wish it away only to late in life when they realize that their days are numbered start to try to find their true selves and feel like if they don’t act on their true nature it’s going to be quite sad that their whole life was lived as a lie. Some folks never do break out, and they do in fact live out their entire life as a lie.

 

Thankfully with our current culture’s acceptance we should see less and less of this in the near future, but holy crap if you really knew just how many gay people there are in striaght marriages or have been before their spouses had passed away, or they got divorced, you’d be amazed.

 

Regardless of the actual number, homosexuality is a true fascit of humanity, and while for years society tried to deny this, or catorgarize it as a mental illness, it is something that is a truth for so many level headed normal as-the-day-is-long people that society is now realzing (something that many of us have known all along) that it’s just a human reality, and nothing to be ashamed of.

 

Numbers don’t mean squat to me. Gayness is my reality, and I’m certainly gonna be as free as I wanna be. My super religious parents very lovingly had my back when I came out to them at age 20, and from then on I had the confidence to live my life being who I am rather than living a lie. I don’t run around throwing it in people’s faces, and I can tell that as I navigate through life most people don’t even know unless I tell them, but the whole skirting around it because others might not accept it is really just their problem. I’m not stupid so I’m not going to stand in the middle of a KKK rally screaming at the top of my lungs that I’m gay, but in everyday life if it’s an inconvenience to me to be myself I will certainly not let it be.

[B-Ball-fan]

So since "only 4%" of the population is LGBT, they should only get 4% of the programming, news coverage, rights, etc? What is the cutoff to be be able to be fully recoginized? 8%? 10%?. The fact that people feel this is being "pushed on them" just proves we have a long way to go as a society. I especially love the common sentiment "I don't have any problem with it", like that makes it all better and absolves one of any possible backlash.

 

This is a moment that truly leaves me shaking my head.

 

Great post!

[Randy Parker]

But there’s a lot of truth in that 1-10 scale, and various many other folks who aren’t completely gay or straight, are a little of both. Is this being accounted for in the various estimates?

 

I'm not sure about their research techniques.

 

The article did mention that Americans have overestimated other groups too.

[mcpapa]

I guess I'm watching different programming than the rest of you, because I don't feel like anything is being forced on me. Rather, I feel like a part of the community that has been largely ignored and dismissed for decades is actually being portrayed in entertainment.

 

There's a lot of "get off my lawn" in this thread, if you ask me.

 

It's always fascinating to me to see the majority complain about the minority.

I’m not seeing it, either. But at my age, my eyesight isn’t what it used to be.

[Voice of Reason]

First let me respond to the stats questions. For my numbers I used good old google. The multiple sites and polling results on the issue that I read about is what brought me to 4%. Some of the poll results were anonymous which lends more credibility to the number being in my 4% range.

 

For those who are insinuating I think we should ignore LGBT because they are a 4% minority, not true. But, should the 4% be in 50% or more of the TV shows and movies? I have no clue if 50% is accurate but it feels that way and that is what prompted the thread for me. Which leads me to the paragraph below.

 

Maybe I have a heightened awareness. You know how sometimes you don't pay a lot of attention to something, then for some reason it becomes raised in your awareness and suddenly it seems like that something is everywhere. For example, someone mentions to you there are more Mercedes Benz cars out there than you think. You wonder about it. Then with that heightened awareness suddenly it seems like you see a Mercedes everywhere as you are driving. Perhaps my LGBT overload is due to that. I will start trying to pay more attention to how often I do see LGBT "coverage" and see if it is being overblown in my mind.

 

For now and the reason it came to mind to start this thread, it feels like I rarely see a TV show or movie that has no LGBT character or exposure. For that reason, I have grown tired of the "overexposure" and started this discussion. I am enjoying reading the perspective being posted here.

[PurplePride92]

GLAAD openly acknowledges the pressure they apply to Hollywood.

 

That pressure should be applied. It’s no different than when blacks would apply pressure to Hollywood because the only roles that were consistently there for blacks to play were slaves, gangsters or athletes. When people identify with a community that they never see portrayed properly on the big screen or on television then pressure must be applied in order to see a true portrayal of that community. The Cosby Show was probably the first show featuring blacks that wasn’t a stereotypical portrayal and that didn’t happen until the 1980s.