# people are gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394 "2004-05-16T06:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/41 "2004-05-18T03:11:12Z")
DMV is probably a fair bet for a non-skewed population, general attractiveness notwithstanding. And Voluble has a point, one probably could find a relatively high number of lesbians at a WNBA game. Just not me. I’d be off having my hair hilighted 😉 . (Probably why I don’t meet any cute women…) When I did my dissertation, the population I sampled was people awaiting outgoing flights at the (international) airport. Limited to those able to afford the cost of flying, yes, but that seems to have little correlation with sexual orientation. Unfortunately, since I was looking at attitudes of heterosexuals, I didn’t gather data on how many of the gay respondents I got and removed from the sample. :smack: > [@True Blue Jack](#): > > Almost any “special” gathering tends to be skewed, as far as I can see. > For some reason this reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld’s example of a cross-sectional view of adult humanity in NYC. When challenged by “Elaine” on his estimate of only 4 to 6% non-ugly (she figured about 25%) he asked her if she had been to the DMV lately. “It’s a LEPER COLONY!” he wailed. (When asked how all “those people” were getting together if “UNDATABLE!” he blandly replied: “Alcohol”!) > > In any event, I’d agree that the Department of Motor Vehicles would tend to be considerably less skewed than any kind of sporting event. > > BTW, I agree about the closeted married men. In fact, in my pre-Internet days, I was involved in writing networks, and I knew of an UNCLOSETED gay male who married for love and to produce children. He said that “disinterested” sexual intercourse with a woman was quite possible. At least for him. > > * * * > > True Blue Jack ---
**Author:** ![rookie523](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rookie523](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rookie523)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/42 "2004-05-18T03:18:49Z")
I’m straight. With no hint of homosexuality. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/43 "2004-05-18T03:25:12Z")
I don’t remember where I heard this, but somebody once said they read somewhere that 1 in 3 people have the capacity for bisexual desires and that upbringing and social pressures keep many of them from even realizing it. I don’t know how true that is, and I guess it isn’t quite the same thing as being gay, but I thought I would throw that in. I know, second hand information sucks, I heard it from my brothers roommates nephew or something. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/44 "2004-05-18T03:26:21Z")
I see that my point was already brought up, lol, I should have read the whole thing before responding. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/45 "2004-05-18T03:46:16Z")
> [@jellyblue](#): > > I’d say that a home game at a basketball stadium is a pretty skewed population, Lucky Sevens, as neither I nor any other gay person I personally know has been to a basketball game AFAIK (home game or otherwise). But still, I’d be fascinated to know how you came up with the 1000 out of 30000 estimate… > > Also, there are plenty of gay men who have been married and have kids. Being a gay man doesn’t necessarily mean that you are constitutionally incapable of having sex with a woman. And as far as women “[faking] it and [denying] it to themselves”, lots of us were thrilled with being exactly who we are from the get-go. > > Are you saying that you have no idea whatsoever whether a woman is into having sex with you or not? :eek: Perhaps you should re-read my post and realise it was all off my gut feeling, nothing else. But Id love to see your cites since your so confident about it. ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/46 "2004-05-18T03:51:18Z")
Its funny to read all these posts, cause everytime this question comes up, I make the same conclusion. There’s no such thing as being gay/straight, its all behavioral. Woah. Most people are gay, but dont realise it, most are bi sexual, most are straight, most can have kids with opposite sex partners, most can hide there sexuality for all eternity, while others can freely exhibit it. This sounds like a behavioral thing. Gays seem to hate the idea that anything but genetics causes them to like the opposite sex (im not really sure why either). If there any solid proof that there is a gene that causes black and white sexuality? ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/47 "2004-05-18T04:11:10Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > …shouldn’t at least SOME societies, if we’re all bisexual at heart, treat gay and straight sex equally, encouraging people to fuck either sex? > > You can’t claim it’s cultural norms if EVERY society seems to feature similar norms. Ancient Greeks. Sex with men was ideal. Sex with women was to make babies. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/48 "2004-05-18T04:48:00Z")
> [@LuckySevens](#): > > There’s no such thing as being gay/straight, its all behavioral. Cite? > [@](#): > > Woah. Most people are gay, but dont realise it, most are bi sexual, most are straight, most can have kids with opposite sex partners, most can hide there sexuality for all eternity, while others can freely exhibit it. Huh? > [@](#): > > Gays seem to hate the idea that anything but genetics causes them to like the opposite sex (im not really sure why either). If there any solid proof that there is a gene that causes black and white sexuality? Not to get all GD, but the reason some gay people get angry at the notion that sexuality is purely a choice is that it’s usually coupled with either an implicit or explicit statement that it’s a _wrong_ choice. There is no proof of the cause of any flavor of human sexuality. The general concensus as I understand it is that human sexuality is the result of a complex interaction between genetics and environment (“environment” including such things as hormone levels in the womb). Sex acts are behaviour. Desire is not. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/49 "2004-05-18T04:51:28Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Ancient Greeks. Sex with men was ideal. Sex with women was to make babies. This is incorrect. Sex with youths was, for lack of a better word, “ideal.” Two adult males having sex was unusual, far from ideal. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/50 "2004-05-18T05:19:19Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=241716) is a similar thread that is a few months old. I can’t speak for any other posters, of course, but my perspective has not changed much since then. One thing that has changed… Woofuckinghoo Massachusetts!!! ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/51 "2004-05-18T06:49:23Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > there are also many homosexuals who never get the chance to be polled at all. And if you’re a gay man who’s been polled, you know just how painful that can be. \ \ > [@LuckySevens](#): > > I’d say about 1 in 30, many dopers will slam this, but I think its about right in the end. Out of a group of 30000 people (ie a home game at some basketball stadiums), probably about 1000 are gay, which sounds about right to me. Funny, but I’d think 1 in 3 is about right. Out of a group of 30,000 people (a Cher concert), probably about 10,000 are gay, which sounds about right to me. ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/52 "2004-05-18T13:03:41Z")
Like I said, **Otto** , my assumption I made from the thread is that homosexuality is behavioral. My cite for my own assumption was my post 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/53 "2004-05-18T13:10:30Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Funny, but I’d think 1 in 3 is about right. Out of a group of 30,000 people (a Cher concert), probably about 10,000 are gay, which sounds about right to me. Well I live in a big city, and for every gay couple I see together I probably see 20 straight couples. Ive also worked on the same street as a few gay bars, and straight bars in total usually have a good deal more patrons (8 straight bars, 2 gay bars, all usually about 3/4 full peak time saturday nights). Now that may be bad assumptions to make statistically, but I just cant find any scenario where gays outnumber straight people at any kind of occasion. I see religions where minority races out number white people all the time. You’ve almost got to say, with 1/3 people gay, almost all gays would be in the closet… ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/54 "2004-05-18T13:10:57Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > And if you’re a gay man who’s been polled, you know just how painful that can be. \ \ . . . Huh? What? Somebody call my name? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394/55 "2004-05-18T14:52:58Z")
> [@LuckySevens](#): > > You’ve almost got to say, with 1/3 people gay, almost all gays would be in the closet… Congratulations, LuckySevens, you’ve been whooshed! Don, tell LuckSevens what he or she has won! My post was a play on your post where you took a poll (I think ‘looked about and made a judgment based on external prejudicial stereotypes’ would be a better description) of the attendees of a professional sporting event to gauge what percent of the general public is gay. Cher has a very large gay following, any poll of her audience would be skewed toward that demographic, just like the attendees of your venue would be a skewed population that does not represent the general public. The satire, as all satires are supposed to do, was designed to show the absurdities inherent in what is being satirized. A lot of ironic, tongue-in-cheek, absurdist comments are made on this board without the hand-waving emoticons. It’s easy for a newbie not used to that to miss it and have it go over their head (thus, we say, ‘whooshed’). Peace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-gay/245394.md?page=2)