Page 213 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

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LGBT POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES

It is extremely difficult to get an accurate count on the population of LGBTs
in the United States because of societal sanctions against self - disclosure and

definitional problems. With respect to the latter, it has been found that many
people are not exclusively heterosexual or homosexual, and the incidence of
early same - sex behavior among the general population is much higher than

those who define themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual: overall, 6% of men
and 11% of women admitted to oral and anal sex with members of the
same sex (this does not include other forms of sexual activities such as kissing,
caressing, etc.) (Mosher, Chandra, & Jones, 2005). The national survey of 18 -
to 44 - year - olds revealed that 90% of men identified themselves as hetero-
sexual, 2.3% as homosexual, 1.8% as bisexual, 3.9% something else, and 1.8%

did not respond. With women, 90% identified as heterosexual, 1.3% as
homosexual, 2.8% bisexual, 3.8% something else, and 1.8% did not answer.
It appears that rates of identification among men and women were similar.

However, some argue that the actual figure of homosexuals is around 10%
(Hyde & DeLamater, 2000).
Like many marginalized groups in society, LGBTs tend to form their own
communities and connections as a means to validate and support their group
identities and as a buffer to a hostile and invalidating world. LGBTs are
highest in the following cities: San Francisco (15.4%), Seattle (12.9%), Atlanta
(12.8%), Minneapolis (12.5%), Boston (12.3%), Oakland (12.1%), Sacramento
(9.8%), Portland, Oregon (8.8%), Denver (8.2%), and Long Beach (8.1%)
(Williams Institute, 2006).

MENTAL DISORDER OR NORMAL ORIENTATION

Prior to 1973, homosexuality was considered a mental illness or a mental
disorder (Douce, 2005). Even when the American Psychiatric Association
voted to remove it in 1973, it created another new category, ego - dystonic
homosexuality, in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM), for individuals with (1) “ a lack of heterosexual arousal
that interferes with heterosexual relationships ” and (2) “ a persistent distress
from unwanted homosexual arousal. ” This category was later eliminated in
the face of arguments that it is societal pressure and prejudice that causes the
distress. Subsequently, the American Psychiatric Association has completely
removed homosexuality as a mental disorder from the fourth edition of

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