--- title: Sexual Orientation Survey Finds 1.6% of Adults Identify as Gay description: For the first time in 57 years the U.S. Census Bureau has surveyed adults on their sexual orientation, and the results published Tuesday show that 1.6% of adults identified as gay, while another 0.7% identified as bisexual. canonical: https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-15T16:37:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:28.029Z article:section: Health og:title: Sexual Orientation Survey Finds 1.6% of Adults Identify as Gay og:description: For the first time in 57 years the U.S. Census Bureau has surveyed adults on their sexual orientation, and the results published Tuesday show that 1.6% of adults identified as gay, while another 0.7% identified as bisexual. og:url: https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt314161530a804743/69869bccf983e793f204ed26/500955279.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2048 og:image:height: 1152 og:image:alt: Pride Week 2014 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sexual Orientation Survey Finds 1.6% of Adults Identify as Gay twitter:description: For the first time in 57 years the U.S. Census Bureau has surveyed adults on their sexual orientation, and the results published Tuesday show that 1.6% of adults identified as gay, while another 0.7% identified as bisexual. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt314161530a804743/69869bccf983e793f204ed26/500955279.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CDC Survey Finds 1.6% of Adults Identify as Gay > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=3a6d4ee0-8b30-4b74-9d55-e34f8f728086&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Edie and Thea: A Love Story [Watch (HLS stream): Edie and Thea: A Love Story](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Kc02dmNR.m3u8) (4:37)  _Published 2013-12-11. Edith Windsor reflects on her life with late spouse, Thea Spyer, and the meaning of gay marriage_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 15, 2014 4:37 PM UTC  People carrying a giant rainbow flag in New York City's Pride Parade People carrying a giant rainbow flag in New York City's Pride Parade Stacey Bramhall—Moment Editorial/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 15, 2014 4:37 PM UTC **Correction** appended July 22. For the first time in 57 years the Centers for Disease Control’s National Health Information Survey has surveyed adults on their sexual orientation, and the [results](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr077.pdf) published Tuesday show that 1.6% of adults aged 18 or over identified as gay, while another 0.7% identified as bisexual. The figures were slightly lower than the findings from [previous](http://www.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-adults-identify-lgbt.aspx) [surveys](http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-2011.pdf), which had estimated that the LGBT population comprised 3.4 to 4% of the population. An additional 1.1% of respondents identified as ‘‘something else,’’ stated ‘‘I don’t know the answer,’’ or refused to provide an answer. The CDC said its statistics would help researchers to identify and address health disparities between gay and straight adults. The report identified elevated levels of smoking and drinking among respondents who identified as gay, as well as a higher likelihood of meeting federal fitness guidelines. **Correction:** The original version of this story incorrectly attributed the data to the wrong source. The survey was undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control’s National Health Information Survey. ## Transcript >> Now I was nice- looking, nice- looking person, you know. >> I mean, I [ unk ] kids already too. For the, she was, she was a beauty no question. She was the beautiful one. I had the body. She was very beautiful. I mean, we were. We were in love but I don't think, [ unk ] it was gonna last for you know, for two years. And that's the first summer that we'd shared the place. And that, that's and I, I've asked her, you know, a many years later. When did you really fall in love with me? I mean, that summer and that's when we became engaged [ unk ]. That would had been 1967. When, you have to go back to why did we originally become engaged and a-- and a not just, it just happened. I mean, Thea decided that she wanted to do that. And, and we were driving out to the Hamptons and she started talking to me about, what would you do if you were to get married, get-- get, become engaged? And I said, well I couldn't, I couldn't wear a ring, okay, because, because then, they would need to know, you know, who he is and when do we meet him. By the time we got to the destination, she got down on her knees and she said, " Edith Winsor, will you marry me ?", and she had a circle with diamonds. And then I said, " Yes, yes, yes ". And she went furious because I did let her finish the sentence and I said, yes, yes, yes. >> But all our friends, they just, you know. People you work with are okay though. Clients and stuffs like that. At one point, I talked to Thea about it. I was saying, " You know, we have both been very successful like in our fields and stuff. Why could it had been if hadn't put all of that energy in to being hidden ?", and she said, " Oh, stop that, no effect on me at all ." And within 10 minutes we were both crying, okay. So, we they had plenty of effect for both of us, obviously. Whether, but nothing, you know, actively at that time. At day after, we felt differently, that I have seen, you know, I clearly everybody who've had a long engagement, relationship who then gets married, is different the next morning. And everybody says, yes absolutely. There's some legitimacy that we never know we were lacking. And we heard from people, we heard from probably a thousand people with, with the announcement happened in the New York Times. The, from every walk of our life and people of course, who had never known anything about- about our sex lives, there are, our relationship. I think-- I think the truth is that, that if you really care about the quality of somebody's life as much as you care about the quality of your own, you haven't made, I mean, that's [ unk ] better. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/"},"headline":"CDC Survey Finds 1.6% of Adults Identify as Gay","datePublished":"2014-07-15T16:37:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:28.029Z","description":"Another 0.7% identified as bisexual, and 1.1% said \"something else\" or didn't answer","url":"https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/","keywords":["LGBT","gay","sexuality","Census"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt314161530a804743/69869bccf983e793f204ed26/500955279.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt314161530a804743/69869bccf983e793f204ed26/500955279.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pride Week 2014","caption":"Pride Week 2014","creditText":"Stacey Bramhall—Moment Editorial/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lgbt/","name":"LGBT"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/","name":"CDC Survey Finds 1.6% of Adults Identify as Gay"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Edie and Thea: A Love Story","description":"Edith Windsor reflects on her life with late spouse, Thea Spyer, and the meaning of gay marriage","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Kc02dmNR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Kc02dmNR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/","duration":"PT4M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2987183/gay-census-bisexual-cdc/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```