Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Warner Todd Huston, in this article, endeavors to dispel what he refers to as the "myth" that 10% of Americans are gay.

He quotes statistics from various studies:

• The CDC reported that a 2002 National Survey of Family Growth set the number closer to 2.8% of adults claiming homosexuality.
• In 1993, USA Today reported that only 2.3% of males ages 20 to 30 said they had a same-sex experience in the last decade.
• And the 2000 Census found that only .42% of American households consisted of same sex, unmarried couples as heads of households. This is less than 1%.

He goes on to write:

One might claim that these numbes [sic] must be far lower than reality would dictate. After all, being homosexual is a societal taboo and it might be assumed that a large portion of those who truly are homosexual may not wish to admit such out of fear.

But, this claim just does not wash with the social acceptance that homosexuality has attained over the last 20 or so years. Except for small sections of the US, being gay carries little if any stigma that might force people who are homosexual from answering truthfully on these often ananymous [sic] surveys.

Homosexuality has attained social acceptance? Being gay carries little if any stigma except for small sections of the US? What fucking planet do you live on you moronic fuck-head. Do you read the news? Do you follow the comical antics of your elected officials? Are you fucking stupid?

Then he really goes off the deep end. He quotes two statistics:

• The National Institute of Mental Health claims that 9.5% of the population suffers from depressive illnesses. That would translate to about 18 million Americans suffering from depression annually.
• The website for the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry claims that around 6 million Americans over 65 suffer from various untreated mental disorders.
  

He does some simple math and concludes:

These numbers total more than 20 million Americans classified as abnormal, or sick by mental health professionals.

He makes a patently homophobic observation:

Granted homosexuality was removed from being classified as a mental disorder in 1973 due to the efforts of gay advocates, but it stretches credulity to believe 20 million Americans could be considered mentally ill and, therefore abnormal, while a mere 3 to 5 million homosexual Americans are to be considered "normal." Rather than assessing "normal" scientifically it appears that the mental health officials are driven by politics as opposed to science.

And then he jumps to conclusions that would make Evel Knievel fucking jealous:

In any case, there you have it. The 10% statistic seems to be a myth instead of a reality. Instead of 20 some million Americans being homosexual we see that no more than 5 million could possibly be so. It's fairly hard to believe that homosexuality is "normal" if less than 5% of the population are such, isn't it?

Being different is not wrong. Being in the minority is not wrong either. Face it, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders because it is not and never has been an illness. These long-held opinions were born out of fear and hatred -- not science -- and there is no rational scientific evidence to support the bigotry that your Christian dogma dictates.

You insist that there are 20 million Americans that could be considered mentally ill. Correction: counting you, there's 20,000,001 Americans.


see also:

• Gays and the APA?
  

tags: homosexuality, homosexual, gay, homophobia