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And they're saying, you know, now we're having kids coming out at 12, 13, 14, and schools really didn't know what to do. We're used to seeing kids coming out in -well, originally it was college or after and then it was high school. And they're saying, you know, something really -interesting is happening right now. I read a lot about youth culture and I was talking to educators and, you know, leaders of gay youth groups and they were all saying the same thing. Well, I started working on the piece about four or five years ago.
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You came out at 20 and you found yourself a little surprised. MARTIN: Now, how did you notice this trend of younger and younger children identifying themselves as gay? You mentioned in the piece that you are a gay man. BENOIT DENIZET-LEWIS (Journalist): Thanks, Michel. In a few minutes, we'll hear from two parents and a teen who are living this story now. Those are the questions writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis tried to answer in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story, "Coming Out in Middle School." Now this is a first of a two-part conversation. There may never be a time when people will accurately answer surveys, but at least survey givers are getting better at tricking us into being honest.Today in our parenting conversation, what does it mean to come out at 13 or even younger? Are people who come out as gay in their teens destined to face rejection, bullying and identity crisis? Or has the world changed enough so that figuring out sexual identity is just another challenge of adolescence? “The results show non-heterosexuality and anti-gay sentiment are substantially underestimated in existing surveys, and the privacy afforded by current best practices is not always sufficient to eliminate bias,” note the researchers, who were just looking at the way surveys might under-count both homosexuality and attitudes toward homosexuality. The most important takeaway isn’t a final tally of the gay people in society, but, rather, an understanding of the ways in which surveys and other existing attempts to measure such things might be slightly misleading. Daniel Luzer at Pacific Standard explains that uncovering these hidden biases is really important for understanding how accurate these kinds of surveys actually are: This kind of veiled questioning can get at all sorts of answers that people don’t want to give, like the incidence of rape. Respondents were 67% more likely to express disapproval of an openly gay manager at work (p<0.01) and 71% more likely to say it is okay to discriminate against lesbian, gay, or bisexual individuals (p<0.01).Įssentially, using a veiled question rather than a direct one uncovered a whole group of people who would not directly say they weren’t heterosexual. The veiled method also increased the rates of anti-gay sentiment. The veiled method increased self-reports of non-heterosexual identity by 65% (p<0.05) and same-sex sexual experiences by 59% (p<0.01). Comparing the two methods shows sexuality-related questions receive biased responses even under current best practices, and, for many questions, the bias is substantial. Answers in the veiled method preclude inference about any particular individual, but can be used to accurately estimate statistics about the population. Participants were randomly assigned to either a “best practices method” that was computer-based and provides privacy and anonymity, or to a “veiled elicitation method” that further conceals individual responses. The authors explain that their methodology might have something to do with it: That’s nearly double the usual estimates of about 10 percent. But a new study has tried, and come up with a number that’s higher than most.Īccording to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, about 20 percent of the population is attracted to their own gender. 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.