A new report by the Williams Institute, a think tank of the UCLA School of Law, finds that there are 1 million black people who identify as LGBT and one of the states with the most black gay couples includes Georgia.
The 1 million figure accounts for 3.7 percent of African American adults, according to the report titled, "LGBT African-American Individuals and African-American Same-Sex Couples."
There are an estimated 84,000 African American people in same-sex relationships with 25 percent of that number living in Georgia, New York, North Carolina and Maryland, the report states.
Almost 30,000 same-sex couples live together in Georgia, according to data released Thursday from the 2010 Census, and more than 28 percent are raising children. The total numbers show a sharp increase from the 19,288 same-sex unmarried partners reported in the state in the 2000 Census.
The increase is likely due to a combination of better outreach and more lesbian and gay Georgians feeling safe to come out on the confidential form, according to Jeff Graham, executive director of statewide gay political group Georgia Equality.
"The Census Bureau and community organizations did a much better job in 2010 of conducting outreach to the LGBT community than in 2000, therefore more people knew how to respond and the importance of responding," noted Graham, whose organization joined in outreach efforts as the Census was underway last year.
In addition, "as acceptance of our families has grown, more people are willing to stand up and be counted," Graham said. "As more data is collected on the LGBT community in general, the more accurate and comprehensive that data will be."
The federal government conducts a full Census every 10 years. The 2010 Census did not ask respondents to indicate their sexual orientation, so it can't be used to count single gay people.
There are roughly 9 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults living in the U.S. but more concrete data on the number of LGBT Americans is needed to help shape public policies, according a report released today by the Williams Institute.
The report, titled "How Many People Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender?" finds that a good estimate of the number of LGBT Americans — adults — is about 9 million, or roughly the population of New Jersey. The approximate population of the U.S. is more than 311 million people (including children), according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The report from the Williams Institute, a national think tank located at the UCLA School of Law, also estimates that people who report "same-sex sexual behavior" in their lifetime is as high as 19 million Americans, or 8.2 percent — and this is about the population of Florida. Some 11 percent, or nearly 25.6 million Americans, say they "at least have some same-sex attraction" — or more than the population of Texas.