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Strength in Numbers?

A new Gallup poll talked about in this article at The New Civil RIghts Movement shows that Americans believe one in four people are gay!  If this were only true.  Below is the link for the article.

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/homosexuality-americans-believe-one-in-four-people-are-gay/polls/2011/05/27/20915

But most researchers believe that gay and lesbian folks are only 3.5 % of the population.  This is even less than the 1 in 10 figure that is often bandied about.

I think it is hard to really know. Nor do I think it really matters.  If I believe God made us just the way we are-then it shouldn’t matter how many of us are straight or gay.  Only that we hold one another in gentle care and respect and uplift each other’s humanity.

I know we humans have a propensity to measure and count things.  A colleague who I knew many years ago was a sex researcher for Rand.  She and I worked closely together during the height of the AIDS crisis. And she did ground breaking research on sexuality.  She explained to me then that most people do not answer truthfully when polled around questions of sexuality, sexual practice and sexual orientation.  And most researchers know how to account for this.

Many people reject labels.  They don’t classify themselves as gay or lesbian even though that is who they prefer to have sex with!  So how do you really measure.

The truth is equality shouldn’t be a matter of numbers.  But I am happy that more Americans think our numbers are much larger than they actually are. It means we are more visible and making a difference.  Keep making noise for justice and equality.  It is working.

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