In their campaign to convince people that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle both socially and morally, you will often hear the statistical claim that 10% of the population are homosexuals. This is cited confidently and authoritatively as if it is an unquestionable fact.
The latest person to make this assertion is Danton Remoto of the group Ang Ladlad. Should the Supreme Court affirm the legitimacy of Ang Ladlad as a party list group, Remoto expects that 10% of the 49 million registered voters will cast their votes in Ang Ladlad's favor. I am not an election expert, but as I recall, that would be enough to secure three seats in the House of Representatives.
Yet is it true that 10% of the population are homosexuals?
The source of the statistic frequently used is a study made more than 60 years ago led by a man named Alfred Kinsey. From the earliest days, the flaws in the study were evident as it doesn't represent the general population.
- Approximately 25% of the 5,300 individuals studied were prison inmates-- therefore they cannot have physical contact with the opposite sex.
- Kinsey himself admits that several hundred male prostitutes were used in this study.
- Volunteers were used in the study. Sexuality is a very sensitive issue that those who have the guts to voluntarily submit their selves to a study like this cannot represent the general population (consider also the more conservative culture of the 1940's)
The flaws in the study are so glaring that Paul Gebhard, Kinsey's successor as director of the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research attempted to clean up the mess in 1979 of the defects mentioned above and he came up with the conclusion that "none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected" by these flaws. But Kinsey Institute's credibility is already in question and other studies say otherwise (click here). Another factor that affects their credibility are the serious allegations of child molestation during the course of the study.(Click here)
Aside from these flaws, the study is not being quoted accurately by those who use it:
"Kinsey did not say that 10 percent of the entire U.S. population was homosexual. Rather, he affirmed that ten percent of white American males were "more or less" exclusively homosexual for at least three years of their lives between the ages of 16 and 65. The statistic for females was five percent. The actual percentage of those thought to be exclusively homosexual for their entire lives was only four percent of men and two or three percent of women, all based on his allegedly representative sample of the population." (Joseph Gudel, Homosexuality: Fact and Fiction; Christian Research Journal)
Am I saying that Ang Ladlad cannot win in May? No. All I'm saying is the statistic being cited is seriously defective.
It is very possible that Ang Ladlad could still occupy three seats in the Lower House.Why? Because even heterosexuals could advocate the homosexual cause. As it is written: "Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:32 NIV)
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