‘White People Are Less Likely to Be Gay’: Poll Reveals African-American Community Has Highest Percentage of ‘LGBT’ Adults in U.S.

White people are less likely to be gay, according to what could be the largest ever study to calculate America’s lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender population (LGBT).

The Gallup survey, released this week, was based on interviews with more than 121,000 people, and showed that 3.4 per cent of adults considered themselves a member of the LGBT community.

According to the survey, conducted between June and September, 4.6 per cent of African-Americans were LGBT, along with four per cent of Hispanics, 4.3 per cent of Asians and 3.2 per cent of Caucasians.

Overall, a third of those identifying as LGBT are non-white, the report said.

Demographer Gary Gates, of the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, said: ‘Contemporary media often think of LGBT people as disproportionately white, male, urban and pretty wealthy.

‘But this data reveals that, relative to the general population, the LGBT population has a larger proportion of non-white people and clearly is not overly wealthy.’

The survey found that there was a slight gender difference, 3.6 per cent of women identified as LGBT, compared to 3.3 per cent of men. Younger adults, aged 18 to 29, were more likely than their elders to identify as LGBT.

However, among those aged 18 to 29, 8.3 per cent of women identified as LGBT, compared with 4.6 per cent of men the same age.

The survey also asked about political preferences and found that 44 per cent of LGBT adults were Democratic, and 13 per cent were Republican.
Seventy one per cent of LGBT registered voters support President Barack Obama in this year’s election, and 22 per cent support Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

In contrast to some previous, smaller studies, the Gallup survey found that identification as LGBT was highest among Americans with the lowest levels of education.

A similar pattern was found regarding income groups. More than five per cent of those with annual incomes of less than $24,000 identified as LGBT, compared to 2.8 per cent of those making more than $60,000 a year.

Regarding family status, 20 per cent of LGBT individuals said they were married and an additional 18 per cent were living with a partner.

Among non-LGBT Americans, 54 per cent were married and four per cent were living with a partner, the report said.