When national media outlets reported the news earlier this year that there are far fewer lesbians and gay men in the United States than many of us believed, I was disappointed.
I had often heard and assumed to be factual that gay people were 10 percent of the entire population. It turns out that lesbians and gay men are 3.5 percent of adults in the States, while transgender Americans are another 0.3 percent, according to research by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at UCLA School of Law.
Instead of more than 30 million of us, there are about 9 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, the research shows.
My first thought while reading the news story was, "OK, so how are the bigots and anti-gay groups going to use this against us?"
I got my answer within 24 hours as the recipient of a mass email from an individual who seizes every opportunity to cast aspersions on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans and their fight for equal rights.
