U.S. News

First LGBT Count Yields New Statistics

Recognition

1.7 percent in ND, 10 percent in DC.

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Same-sex couple at marriage license protests on Thursday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty),Justin Sullivan

That took long enough. Gallup, in cooperation with UCLA, has released statistics from its first-ever state-by-state demographic count of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans—the biggest population survey group to do so. The results? North Dakota has the lowest LGBT population at just 1.7 percent of the state's population, while Washington, D.C., has the highest at 10 percent. On average, the LGBT population hovers around 4 percent. Interestingly, every state that has an LGBT population of 4 percent or higher also has anti-discrimination laws for those groups. The biggest thing researchers learned? Visibility does appear to matter.

Read it at Los Angeles Times