The latest state-by-state survey by polling giant Gallup, Inc. of more than 200,000 people has found that the percentage of U.S. adults who identify as LGBT ranges from a low of 1.7 percent in North Dakota to a high of 5.1 percent in Hawaii with 10 percent of the population of the District of Columbia identifying themselves in this way.
"This is the largest single study of the distribution of the LGBT population in the U.S. on record, and the first time a study has had large enough sample sizes to provide estimates of the LGBT population by state," Gallup reports.
"Overall, the results from this analysis of LGBT identity by state may run counter to some stereotypes that portray the LGBT community as heavily grouped in certain states of the union. With the exception of the District of Columbia, the range in percentage LGBT is 3.4 percentage points, from 1.7% in North Dakota to 5.1% in Hawaii."
For instance, most people believe the LGBT community was the most populous in the city of San Francisco, but the state of California is actually ranked 10th behind Washington DC (10%), Hawaii (5.1%), Vermont (4.9%), Oregon (4.9%), Maine (4.8%), Rhode Island (4.5%), Massachusetts (4.4%), South Dakota (4.2), and Nevada (4.2%).
At the lower end of the scale is North Dakota at 1.7% followed by Montana, Mississippi and Tennessee at 2.6% each.
The pollster freely admits that measuring sexual orientation and gender identity can be challenging because these concepts involve complex social and cultural patterns.
"Gallup chose a broad measure of personal identification as LGBT because this grouping of four statuses is commonly used in current American discourse, and as a result has important cultural and political significance."
They have confidence in their results because the number of interviews conducted in each state between June and December is large enough to allow for reasonable estimates of each state's LGBT population.
The study is receiving criticism from those who say the poll isn't accurate because it asks people to self-identify.
"Respondents might be gay, but not out (even to themselves), and they're far more likely to come out if they live an area where there are a lot of other gay and lesbian people," writes Dashiell Bennett for The Atlantic Wire. "Or maybe they simply don't see themselves in terms of L-G-B-T definitions."
After pointing out that this survey was done by the same pollster who predicted that Mitt Romney was ahead in the battle for the White House a few months ago, he did admit that the poll was still significant because it wasn't just updating old information but was completely new data.
Americans have long had a skewed view of the actual number of "non-straight" people living amongst them. Most believe as many as one in ten are LBGT. A recent Gallup poll of young people found this age group estimated that as many as 30 percent of the U.S. population to be LBGT.
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