During the long debate on the question of gay marriage, there have been many competing answers to the question of, "How many people are gay?"
A very anti-gay Christian minister in Sydney, the Reverend Fred Nile, (who is also a Member of the State parliament) claims that the percentage is as low as 1%.
Some University (U.of New South Wales) research in Sydney has suggested 5%, but the authors of the study cautioned that there was a problem in the fact that an unknown number of respondents would likely not admit to being gay.
There are other problems in asking the question. For example, what does being gay mean? Are we talking about actions or feelings? Some people with feelings of desire for the same sex, have never acted on their desire, and if they are married, as may well be the case, their only sexual experience may have been with the opposite sex. Should they be counted as gay?
A traditional figure (in the west) says about 10% of people have romantic or sexual inclinations toward the same sex, but Professor Gary Leupp, (Professor of History, Tufts University) claims that in 17th Century Japan, male to male sexual behaviour was 'normative,' a word which spears upward toward 50% of the population. That may well have been the case, as Francis Xavier, the first Jesuit missionary in East Asia says that he found the 'sin of Sodom,' was everywhere in Japan, and that the Japanese practised this 'sin' without shame.
It may yet be some time before the Christian inspired feelings of shame and hate die away and allow an honest assessment of the percentage of humans who are attracted (with or without activity) to the same sex.
But in the meantime, its is with interest that we can note the results of a survey,that concludes with a suggestion that the percentage is twenty percent. The Smithsonian magazine reports:
What percentage of the population considers themselves gay? This number has always been hard to pin down: sexuality is fluid, and plenty of people still feel pressured to hide their sexual orientation. But a new study has tried, and come up with a number that’s higher than most.
According to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, about 20 percent of the population is attracted to their own gender. That’s nearly double the usual estimates of about 10 percent. The authors explain that their methodology might have something to do with it.
Reference: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-percent-of-the-population-is-gay-more-than-you-think-5012467/
You can access the abstract of the study at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w19508
which also paradoxically reports higher percentages of hostility toward gay humans. From my own readings (for a research paper on 17th century Japan and actors in the early kabuki theatre who doubled as prostitutes) I suggest that the above studies finding of higher rates of hostility is tapping into the problem of self-hatred on the part of many same sex attracted people (aka, 'internalised' homophobia).