Just as some incidental information. Minneapolis and St. Paul actually hosts the largest free Gay Pride festival in the nation. During this weekend over 150,000 people move through the park over the course of the weekend (that does not include those who attend the Pride Parade). While I assume that some of those attendees are straight allies and others are from out of the metro area, I would assume that most are from Minneapolis/St.Paul.
-Brandon -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of michael libby Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 6:34 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] *Minneapolis* Identity Politics -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sunday 17 February 2002 07:10 am, David Brauer wrote: > [Do we have any solid estimates on the gay/lesbian percentage > of the city's population?] Someone please correct me if they have better information or if I have somehow mangled the numbers in this quick analysis. The information presented herein relies on data supplied by the US Census Bureau at http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/demographic_profile/Minnesot a/2k h27.pdf and a report by the Human Rights Campaign at http://www.hrc.org/familynet/documents/L%20census.pdf. As many are probably aware, the 2000 census was the first to make any decent effort at classifying gay & lesbian populations (maybe in 2010 they can start counting transgender and bisexuals, too). As many are also likely aware, between the well-known Kinsey study and the National Opinion Research Center study at the University of Chicago, the gay population as a percentage of the US total population is pegged at anywherebetween 2% and 10%, depending on how you answer the question, "what constitutes homosexuality?" According the HRC literature (derived directly from census figures, I believe), Minnesota has 9,147 gay or lesbian couples. Not an astounding looking number in a state with almost 5 million people-- but of course is only part of the picture (see later). The Minneapolis MSA (which includes St. Paul) is listed in the HRC report as an MSA with more than 1 million in population and shows a percentage of "coupled" households that report as being gay or lesbian at 1.05% (compared to a national .99%). In Minneapolis, this 1.05% would be relative to a base of 47,049 married households plus 12,585 non-married partner households (total of 59,634 households). That's a total of 626 of the 9,147 gay/lesbian Minnesota couples living in Minneapolis proper. But before I finish, I should probably emphasize that this 1.05% only counts couples who reported correctly as being same-sex partners. It does not account for situtations such as mixed-sex couples having one or more partner who is bisexual or homosexual. It does not account for singles who are gay or lesbian. It does not account for gay or lesbian children living with heterosexual parents. Extending the 1.05% to the total population (and whether this is appropriate is a whole different question) means that Minneapolis (with a population of 382,618) has 4,017 identifiably gay or lesbian citizens. But it is possible that as many as 38,262 people (based on Kinsey's 10%) who might be identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender live in the city. But as I said, it's very dependent on how one defines these classes. To put 1.05% (or 2% or 10%) into perspective here are some other population percentages from the census report: Black, 18%; Vietnamese, 0.6%; all Asian, 6.1%; Native American 2.2%; any Hispanic or Latino 7.6%; male, 50.2%; female, 49.8%; 65 years of age or older, 9.1%; married couples, 29.0%; householders living alone, 40.3%; resident owned homes, 51.4%. So to finally answer Mr. Brauer's question: I could not find any reliable numbers in one evening of internet searching. But I'm inclined to consider Minneapolis as slightly above the national average, and then it's up to you to decide what you think the national average might be (based on your definition of who you will include in this class of people). -Michael Libby (Cleveland, North Mpls) - -- ______Michael_C_Libby__{_x_(at)_ichimunki_(dot)_com_}______ | "even monkeys fall from trees" : "saru mo ki kara ochiru" | |_____public key at http://www.ichimunki.com/public.key_____| -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE8cZ2Q4ClW9KMwqnMRAoviAJsGpZLdNs6V0jtu0guzYtEzlSv//ACfaP5N 0AxuJ2sp5ao8XLrbxDrZ9ik= =f5sK -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
