Gay population - half full glass news - anti-gay feelings - may be underestimated

[oceansunshine]

I saw 2 glasses half full when I read this Science article in today's LATimes (saw it 1st in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, my physical South Florida paper while eating breakfast).

 

What impressed me was:

 

1. The 27% number have "tried" same-sex, and 19% vs the traditional view of 10/11% as possibility not being hetro, IE being gay....
   So our population numbers might be larger than traditionally published.
    
   
2. 
   
3. And then a same 27% number not wanting to work for a gay boss. But I looked at it as a positive (half full glass), meaning 73% would not mind or be bothered having a gay boss......plus I figure at least 20% of this number would complain about whoever is their boss.
   
4. 
   

 

Overall an interesting and positive study. I almost feel normal, so as the saying goes, it gets better.........

 

 

Link to the article's text shown below:

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-surveys-underestimate-gay-population-antigay-feelings-20131010,0,2785656.story

 

And link to the study summary and how to download the actual published study(I think I'll spend the $5 to download the actual study, as I don/t have a .gov TLD/email address(then no charge):

http://www.nber.org/papers/w19508?utm_campaign=ntw&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ntw

 

And this from quote from the study summary shows there are still issues(but again things are improcing, as more of us come out of closets):

"Finally, our results identify two social norms: it is perceived as socially undesirable both to be open about being gay, and to be unaccepting of gay individuals."

 

 

Text from the LATimes article:

 

Gay population - and anti-gay feelings - may be underestimated

 

By Emily Alpert

 

4:39 PM PDT, October 10, 2013

 

 

Far more people are lesbian, gay or bisexual – and more people are biased against them – than say so on typical surveys, a new study suggests.

 

The study, conducted by researchers from Ohio State University and Boston University and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that even when filling out a private, anonymous survey, some people do not truthfully reveal their sexuality.

 

At the same time, researchers found that some people who believe employers should be able to discriminate against hiring gay, lesbian or bisexual people, or who dislike the idea of having a gay manager, also shy from revealing those attitudes on surveys.

 

The findings show that “it is perceived as socially undesirable both to be open about being gay, and to be unaccepting of gay individuals,” the researchers wrote. As a result, some people avoid putting those things down on surveys – even anonymously.

 

How could a study figure out what people weren't telling them? Researchers compared how people answered questions on two different surveys, both of them answered online on their own computers.

 

In the typical survey, people were shown a list of “innocuous statements,” such as, “I spent a lot of time playing video games as a kid,” then asked to answer how many of them were true for themselves, giving an answer ranging from 0 to 4. They were then asked to answer yes or no to a separate question, such as “Do you consider yourself to be heterosexual?”

 

In the “veiled” method, a sensitive statement such as “I consider myself to be heterosexual” was included in the list of statements. That gave people an extra degree of secrecy if they answered yes: Someone might answer that two of the statements were true, for instance, but the researchers would have no way of knowing which ones they meant.

 

Researchers then used those results to estimate how many more people indicated they weren't straight, using the veiled method.

 

A lot more people, researchers concluded: When they were asked directly, 11% of people said they did not consider themselves heterosexual, but using the veiled method, the estimated numbers hit 19%. Seventeen percent answered that they had a same-sex sexual experience; the veiled method turned up 27%.

 

When researchers used the same method to ask people about their attitudes toward lesbian, gay and bisexual people, they found more evidence that people weren't revealing their true feelings: Sixteen percent said they wouldn’t be happy to have a boss who wasn’t straight, but the veiled method found a much higher number – 27%.

 

Only 14% said that hiring discrimination based on sexual orientation should not be illegal, using the typical survey; 25% were estimated to believe that using the veiled method.

 

Researchers cautioned that their results shouldn't be used to extrapolate how many Americans are gay, lesbian or bisexual, since the survey was not nationally representative. (Young adults, for instance, were over represented.)

 

But the results raise questions about how surveys have tallied the gay community. And the fact that people shy from revealing their feelings about gay people, researchers added, “suggests that many other opinions on controversial public issues may not be accurately measured.”

 

Doug

 

And PS: Happy Columbus Day Weekend......

http://gagnamite.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/how_christopher_columbus_actually_discovered_america.jpg

[tyro]

Nice cartoon!

T

[Diverdan]

Sort of like the fact that most republicans don't admit to being racist, but many of them that I know personally abhor the fact that America elected a black, educated man to the White House. I can't wait until a woman is elected President, although I doubt that she will be a republican. Racial prejudice is still alive and well in the USA, and unfortunately some of my relatives, who actually are well educated, admit that having a black man in the White House bothers them a great deal. I doubt that I will live long enough to see the end of some of these prejudices towards gay and lesbian folk, and toward racial minorities, whether they are black, brown, native Americans or Asians. But of course, that is just IMHO....

[BallerBoy]

The fact that the anti-gay feelings towards gay men and women are underestimated does not surprise me, but the "larger population" theory does... You're right, some of the findings can be viewed as "a glass half full". But keep in mind that billions of heterosexual people are already living their lives FREE of those biases while we continue to live in the shadows of society. Unfortunately it will take generations before the stigma and hatred attached to homosexuality is gone. The OLD bigots (along with their antiquated values) will have to be buried and forgotten before we see true equality...

 

Until then, I say F*ck them and live your life!