New research conducted by the Williams Institute suggests that the current U.S. LGBT community comprises approximately 9 million individuals. The study, based on results from six surveys, four national and two conducted at state level.
The Williams Institute is a leading think tank specializing in research related to sexual orientation, gender identity and affiliated law and public policy issues. Drawing on the results of the various population studies in their analysis, researchers at the Institute concluded that there are over 8 million adults in the U.S. who identify as either lesbian, gay or bisexual, and another 700,000 who identify as transgender. The resultant estimate of 9 million LGBT individuals is roughly equivalent to the population of New Jersey.
Dr. Gary J. Gates, a primary author of the study, explained that such large-scale population data complements new efforts on behalf of LGBT health as recommended last week by the HHS and the Institute of Medicine at the National Academies.
“Better data can provide the building blocks for critical information to understand the lives of the 9 million LGBT Americans who have been historically marginalized in both society and research,” said Gates.
Other results from the study included a slight majority (1.8%) of bisexual respondents over lesbian and gay individuals (1.7%), with a higher likelihood of women than men to identify as bisexual. In addition, 19 million Americans, or 8.2% of the population, report to have engaged in some form of same-sex sexual behavior, while 25.6 million Americans, or 11% of the population, report some degree of same-sex attraction.
