GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 6, 2001

letters tothe editor

Just say 'Thanks, I'm not that way' stomp, hit or kick every straight person that

To the Editors:

I read an article in the Gay People's Chronicle, "Brothers stomp man almost to death, claim 'gay advances'" [March 30 issue].

Being an openly gay man, if I would

made sexual advances towards me, I would be in trouble every day.

It doesn't matter if you are gay or straight. If someone winks at you, brushes up against you or touches you to let you know they are interested, it does not give you the right to hit them, stomp on them, or kill them!

speakout

Riding an upward trend

by Paul Varnell

How many gays and lesbians are there? Or, a slightly different question: How many people engage in gay sex? For that matter, how many people want to but do not do so?

These questions come up repeatedly in controversies ranging from the impact of gay marriage to the gay "voting bloc," from AIDS epidemiology to the size of the gay market, from the level of social tolerance to the merits of various survey techniques.

Answers range from about one percent found by telephone surveys ("Hello, I am a total stranger and know your telephone number. Are you homosexual?") to ten percent, popularly but incorrectly attributed to sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey.

In the November 2000 issue of the Journal of Sex Research, Prof. Amy Butler of the University of Iowa used data from the General Social Survey conducted biennially by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago to try to answer the question.

Since 1988, this survey has included questions about gay sex partners in the previous year.

Examining the data from 1988 to 1998, Butler found, A: More people reported engaging in gay sex in the previous year in

1998 than in 1988; and, B: the general trend from 1988 to 1998 has been upward.

Specifically, the number of men 18-59 reporting gay sex in the previous year rose from 1.7 percent in 1988 to 4.1 percent in 1998. The number of women reporting gay sex in the previous year averaged less than one percent in the period 1988-1991 but rose to 2.8 percent in 1998.

The obvious questions are: What accounts for the increase? Will the current upward trend continue?

Accepting the data at face value as showing that more people are engaging in gay sex, Butler attributes the increases to growing social tolerance of gays, government efforts to discourage discrimination and the increasing visibility of gays and lesbians in the mass media.

There may be something to this.

Certainly the reduction of social hostility allows people to feel less discomfort about acting on their same-sex desires and the greater social visibility of a gay community makes it easier to find places and situations to look for potential partners.

Then too, the greater visibility of gays in the media and everyday life probably helps people recognize when their feelings of warmth and friendship for someone or their aesthetic appreciation of someone's attrac-

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Just be a human being, and realize that they are too. Just say, "Thanks, I'm not that way." Then you can go on with your life, not feeling guilty about what might have happened if you were ignorant and uneducated. Treat people the way you want to be treated. It's short, and very simple. Preston Reynolds Cleveland

tiveness also contains a component of sexual desire.

But even more important, that same growing tolerance and gay visibility greatly increases people's willingness to acknowledge having same-sex partners even on a written questionnaire such as NORC uses. So we are slowly moving toward more accurate estimates.

But we are only part way there. There are several reasons to think the survey's numbers are still a significant undercount.

• Butler herself acknowledges that "the stigma of homosexuality may affect truthfulness in reporting same-gender sexual behavior." So these numbers are best considered minimum or "lower-bound" estimates.

• Internet surveys conducted by Harris Interactive regularly find that 6-7 percent of the general population on-line say they are gay, lesbian or bisexual. And that is just those who accept those labels, not all those who engage in gay sex.

• A large 1992 NORC survey published as "The Social Organization of Sexuality" (1994) found that 7.7 percent of the men and 7.5 percent of the women said they were currently "attracted to" people of the same sex or found the idea of gay sex "appealing" (p. 297).

As before, this is only the number of people who say they have those feelings— and at a time when less than 3 percent of men and less than 1.5 percent of women admitted having gay sex in the previous year.

• That same 1992 NORC survey found that in the nation's 12 largest cities more than 10 percent of the men said they engaged in gay sex in the previous year (p. 304). This higher disclosure rate comes from places offering the greatest tolerance and the most opportunities for people to act on their desires.

• "The Social Organization of Sexuality" also noted that Kinsey's team asked many questions about gay thoughts and feelings before asking about behavior.

Then it adds, "It is possible that some of these techniques may have increased the disclosure and reporting of stigmatized activities" (p. 290).

Possible? It would be better to say "obvi-

ous."

• The General Social Survey seems to knowingly depress same-sex responses by prefacing its questions about sex with a statement about "the grave problem" (the pun is probably not intended) of "the AIDS epidemic" This is supposed to make people answer more honestly.

But the statement more likely reminds men, at least, that engaging in gay sex can put them at risk for AIDS, something they might not wish to admit to a survey or even to themselves. And it may suggest that the survey is really asking whether they might have AIDS.

Not surprisingly, people who were not given that "AIDS alert" one year reported more same-sex behavior. But NORC keeps the preface in its survey.

♡

Paul Varnell writes for the Chicago Free Press, a GLBT weekly. He can be e-mailed at PVarnell@aol.com.

GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

Volume 16, Issue 40

Publisher: Martha J. Pontoni Business Manager: Patti Harris Editorial Board: Brian DeWitt, Christine Hahn, Patti Harris, Martha Pontoni

Associate Editor: Brian DeWitt

Staff Reporters: Anthony Glassman, Eric Resnick Reporters & Writers:

Doreen Cudnik, Mubarak S. Dahir, John Graves, Mark J. Huisman, Kaizaad Kotwal, M.T. Martone,

Jeffrey Newman, Kirk Read, Bob Roehr, Harriet L. Schwartz, Rex Wockner, Andrea Wood, Jeff Woodard, John Zeh

Art Director: Christine Hahn

Photographer: Janet Macoska

Advertising Manager: David A. Ebbert National Advertising:

Rivendell Marketing 212-242-6863 David A. Ebbert 800-426-5947

The Gay People's Chronicle is dedicated to providing a space in the Ohio lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community for all of its members to communicate and be involved with each other. This means that every Chronicle, to the best of its ability, will be equally dedicated to both men's and women's issues, as well as issues that affect the entire community. This balance will provide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with a forum to air grievances and express joys.

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