Sexual Orientation

A question that often arises in our cultural controversies has to do with the percentage of people in our population who consider themselves to be same-sex attracted.

Sociologist Ryan Burge notes, for example, that a report from Brown University indicated that 38% of their student body identifies as homosexual, bisexual, queer, asexual, pansexual, questioning, or other. When that same poll was conducted ten years earlier, that share was just 14%.

Burge wonders whether Brown is an outlier or are huge percentages of college students truly either not straight or cisgender? Sifting through the data from a recent survey conducted by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) he finds that in a sample of some 39,000 college students between the ages of 18 and 25, the numbers are somewhat more modest.

Here's a graph which presents his findings:

I wonder, though, how representative of the overall population college students are. Young people in this cohort are often experimenting or in rebellion against traditional standards so in the general population I'd imagine that the percentage of straights would be considerably higher and the percentage of non-binaries and gays would be much lower.

This is just speculation on my part, however. Perhaps Burge will publish another study in the future that'll offer some clarification.

Meanwhile, there are several other graphs related to this topic at the link and anyone interested is invited to check them out.