PRINCETON, NJ — The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) ranges from 1.7 percent in North Dakota to 5.1 percent in Hawaii, and 10 percent in the District of Columbia, according to a new study by Gallup.
These results are based on responses to the question, “Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender?” included in 206,186 Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted between June 1 and Dec. 30, 2012, and according to Gallup is the largest single study of the distribution of the LGBT population in the U.S. on record.
From a broad perspective, the variation in the percentage of adults across U.S. states who identify themselves as LGBT is relatively small, reported Gallup, and all states were within a couple of percentage points of the overall LGBT national average of 3.5 percent.
According to Gallup, the variation does provide insight into LGBT identification and its possible relationship to the ideological and legal climate in different states.
States with high LGBT percentages tend to be more liberal and have more supportive LGBT legal climates, while those at the lower end of the LGBT spectrum are generally the most conservative.
Gallup researchers said this suggests that one explanation for the variation across states is the relationship between the willingness to disclose LGBT identity and the environment of one’s state of residence. It is also possible that LGBT adults make conscious choices to reside in certain states rather than others, but that possibility is difficult to assess, said Gallup.
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glad my state is in the top 3 :D
So true!!!
This still excludes other sexual minorities, this information is useless.
Texas!!! :-(
Feel for the people in ND :(
I think NY needs to be placed at the bottom… -.- There’s absolutely no Gay Guys here >.>
I believe for every lgbt person who is out, there r ten more in the closet…
This is a more accurate measurement of how much homophobia/transphobia there is in each state, rather than the amount of lgbt citizens in each state. I believe that for every one of us that had come out, there r ten more still in the closet…
Lol sorry for repeating myself… O:)
another question needs to be raised ie this survey: how many lgbt living states at the bottom are to afraid to come out due to the bigotry surrounding them.
I thought my first comment didn’t post properly lmao
This study is really bios… because these test groups are too limited also there has only been a “boom” in those identifying as LGBT in youth in the last 5 year’s start your test groups at age 15 plus watch the average rise exponentially…
Are you kidding me?
I read Houston has the 2nd largest gay population in the US!
The asked 13,000 households in Texas?
All I gotta say is #everythingisbiggerintexas!
I think this is way off. There’s is more than 3.7% in our southern Indiana town.
Ummm, do they really think LGBT people surrounded by armed Tea Party Christian hate-mongers are going to cheerfully “identify” themselves for a survey?
Who would have ever thought that Maine, who is years behind in many things, is 5th on the list and the first state to legalize gay marriage by referendum. I’m proud of us!
I am sure that the results would be different if they hac a larger pool of people poled
Where do people take these polls? No one has ever asked me anything!
Bullpucky!!
just over 400 people interviewed in one state? Yeah, that’s probably accurate. Plus, no one is in the closet or anything.
Actually Kevin, most of these sample sizes are pretty good. As long as their methodology wasn’t flawed (which is unlikely, Gallup has a pretty good reputation) a sample sized of several hundred is pretty good.
Seems just a wee bit unscientific.
hmmm….and what percentage of people would simply NOT answer that question…dah. I think the percentage is realistically in the 8-10% range in every state.
I was surprised HI was the most gay, yet we can’t marry there as the state adopted DOMA.
It would be interesting to compare to a study of persons who have a gay family member – (grand) child, sibling, 1st cousin, aunt/uncle AND compare to overall number of families. I would hypothesize there are states with lots of families with gay/queer relatives, but the LGBTQIA person might have moved outside that state for opportunity (hence the higher amount of gay identified in D.C.) iirc studies have already shown 1 in 4 aka 25% of families have a queer community member.
i find these numbers hard to believe. im sure many asked are not comfortable disclosing this information to the government. im disappointed you would post this with out a disclaimer including this does not reflect the people who choose privacy.
married live on the down low and many just never come out.