# Canadian's MUCH more hetero than US - only 1% are gay! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800 "2004-06-17T03:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/1 "2004-06-17T03:33:50Z")
[Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual](Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual) > [@](#): > > Are there 320,000 gay people in the country? Or is it at least 1.6 million, or perhaps closer to 3.2 million? > > The controversy over how many people are gay in Canada was stirred up again yesterday as the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey showed that 1 per cent of the population identified themselves as homosexual ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/2 "2004-06-17T04:05:05Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual](Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual) In other news, only .001% of Canadians admit to being Canadian. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/3 "2004-06-17T04:42:35Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > In other news, only .001% of Canadians admit to being Canadian. 😃 You rounded up, I see… ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/4 "2004-06-17T07:13:41Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual](Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual) I saw that study yesterday - apparently Quebec is the gayest province in Canada. No suprise there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/5 "2004-06-17T07:15:49Z")
As Evil Ex-Roommate can attest, there _have_ to be more than 320,000 gay people in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/6 "2004-06-17T08:19:41Z")
What the…? You’re kidding, right? (The link is broken beyond any hope of repair, by the way.) I’d love to see how they got those numbers, unless I’m being whooshed like never before. It seems like about 1 in 5 people I know are gay. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/7 "2004-06-17T10:03:48Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual](Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual) This doesn’t support your title that “ **Canadian’s MUCH more hetero than US** ” – an accurate version would be “ **Canadians _say_ they’re MUCH more hetero than US** ”. There’s an old quote: “Saying it’s so don’t make it so.” About six decades ago, researcher Alfred Kinsey, in his groundbreaking books on sexuality, included a section explaining why standard polling techniques do not give accurate answers on ‘loaded’ questions like these. He even discussed how the answers would be biased. Yet people continue to conduct invalid surveys like this, and proclaim the results as if they were accurate. It’s well known in polling research that people will commonly give the answer they think they are ‘expected’ to give, even if it’s false. For example, people know that as “good citizens”, they ought to vote. So many more will claim to have voted in the last election than actually did. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/8 "2004-06-17T11:16:02Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > As Evil Ex-Roommate can attest, there _have_ to be more than 320,000 gay people in Canada. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/9 "2004-06-17T12:12:36Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > It seems like about 1 in 5 people I know are gay. Go figure. I would expect that answer from someone who lives in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, or Halifax. However, being from Calgary, I’ve got the same response. This poll can not be accurate. There isn’t something in the water that makes us more straight than any other human population in the world. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/10 "2004-06-17T13:06:45Z")
I don’t think 1% is nearly high enough, but in my experience subjective impressions are worthless for guessing at numbers like that. It could be anywhere from 1 to 15 percent. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-much-more-hetero-than-us-only-1-are-gay/250800/11 "2004-06-17T14:43:47Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > What the…? You’re kidding, right? (The link is broken beyond any hope of repair, by the way.) > > I’d love to see how they got those numbers, unless I’m being whooshed like never before. > > It seems like about 1 in 5 people I know are gay. Go figure. Here’sa fixed link (I think) [Just 1% of Canadians say they’re homosexual](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040616/GAY16/TPNational/Canada)