Homosexual Groups Back Off from "10 Percent" Myth
The admission that the actual size of the homosexual or bisexual population is far smaller came in an amicus curiae (or "friend of the court") brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Lawrence v. Texas. In the case, homosexual activists are seeking to have a Texas law barring homosexual sodomy declared unconstitutional. The brief was filed on behalf of a coalition of thirty-one pro-homosexual activist groups, including some of the leading national organizations like the Human Rights Campaign; the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); and the People for the American Way Foundation.
The unusually candid statement about the relatively low number of homosexuals contains the following footnote:
The most widely accepted study of sexual practices in the United States is the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS). The NHSLS found that 2.8 percent of the male, and 1.4 percent of the female, population identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. See Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (1994).
If one applies the percentage figures from the NHSLS to only the population of men and women eighteen years old or more, one arrives at an estimate that perhaps 4.3 million Americans (2.8 million men and 1.5 million women) identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual. It is important as well to note that the "bisexual" component in that is fairly high. In fact, the percentage of the population that identifies exclusively as homosexual (not bisexual) is only 2.0 percent for men and 0.9 percent for women, or about 2 million men and slightly less than a million women. And even an exclusive homosexual self-identification is not always matched by similarly exclusive behavior. The NHSLS found that only 0.9 percent of men and 0.4 percent of women reported having only same-sex sexual partners since age 18, a figure that would represent a total of only about 1.4 million Americans (men and women combined).
Family Research Council, Culture Facts, April 4, 2003
Teens Favor Prayer in School
A study released by the University of California at Berkeley found that teens are more likely to be in favor of prayer during official school activities.
The Berkeley study suggests that while 59 percent of adults 27 to 59 want public schools to permit prayer at commencements and other official activities, 69 percent of teens support prayer during official school events.
Researchers and pollsters say the numbers could be due to a re-emphasis on religion and a more conservative voice coming out of the White House.
Fox News, December 08, 2003
