Bisexuals Less Likely to Be Out to Friends and Family, Survey Finds

Bisexual adults are less likely to be to their close family and friends than gay or lesbian people, according to research analyzed by Pew Research Center.

Data from Stanford University found that only 19 percent of bisexuals, who account for about forty percent of LGBTQ adults, are out to most or all the important people in their lives. In comparison, 75 percent of gay and lesbian people surveyed said the same.

26 percent of bisexual people said that none of the important people in their lives knew they were bisexual, compared to 4 percent of gay and lesbian people.

The lower rate of coming out among bisexuals may be due to less social acceptance. According to a 2013 survey from the Pew Research Center, 40 percent of bisexuals had been the subject of slurs and jokes and 31 percent said they’d been rejected by a friend or family member because they were bisexual,

Surveyed bisexuals also reported being attracted to mostly the opposite sex or men and women equally at about the same rates (40 percent vs. 43 percent), but a large majority of partnered bisexual people reported being in opposite-sex relationships (88 percent). This is likely due to the opposite-sex dating pool being much larger than the same-sex one.