As Gallup pointed out in its initial report of LGBT data in 2012, “Exactly who makes up the LGBT community and how this group should be measured is a subject of some debate,” and “There are a number of ways to measure lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientation, and transgender status. Sexual orientation can be assessed by measuring identity as well as sexual behaviors and attractions.” Thus, even though these large sample sizes provide great precision regarding the specific measure used, they do not represent the only way to estimate the percentage of the population that is gay or lesbian.
Still, all available estimates of the actual gay and lesbian population in the U.S. are far lower than what the public estimates, and no measurement procedure has produced any figures suggesting that more than one out of five Americans are gay or lesbian. The widely off-the-mark nature of Americans’ estimates is underscored by the finding that in the most recent update, from May 6-10, only 9% of Americans estimate that the gay and lesbian population is less than 5% — where Gallup’s tracking figure would put it — while at the other end of the spectrum, 33% estimate it as more than 25%.
Go to the article to see the breakdown of the stats.
Near the end there is also the breakdown of the confusion over the racial demographics that reveals the ignorance of Americans in that area also.
A lot of the LGBT crowd are misfit “wannabees” and counterculture types that want to chap their parents’/families’ collective butts. Comes right down to it, there are a good percentage of these pretend-LGBTs that may, at some time later in life, revert to their true type.
Or not, depends on how long they can hold on to their neuroses and spite.
Choosing other than the biological gender has always come down to be a choice, often made very early in life, and based on the suspicion that the chosen gender or role gets a better deal than the biological factors would indicate, and is tacitly or even openly supported in that decision.
Nurture versus nature. Nurture wins this one.