Straight men are more likely to be overweight than gay men.
That was one of the not-so-surprising results of a study done by the Centers for Disease Control.
What was surprising was less than 3 percent of the U.S. population identifies as gay, lesbian or bisexual. An additional 1.1 percent refused to answer. The CDC did not necessarily take into account the higher percentage of gays and lesbians who move to larger cities and weight the responses from those areas.
The survey was a broad survey of more than 33,500 adults. However, the study doesn’t take into account how many people are uncomfortable revealing their sexual orientation and rather than refusing to answer, will tell a stranger they are straight. So the results reflect the difference between the straight population and those in the LGB community who are out and comfortable talking about their health to a surveyor.
The study found some health differences between gays and straights. Gays are more likely to smoke and drink more. Straight women are more likely than lesbians to consider themselves in good health. Gay men are more likely to consider themselves in good health than straight men.
Bisexuals are more likely to report psychological distress in the past month than straights.
Gays are more likely to get a flu vaccine and 30 percent more likely to have been tested for HIV.
Gay men are more likely than straight men to have a regular place to go for medical care. Lesbians are less likely than straight women to have a regular place to get health care.
Despite Ryan White, ADAP and other plans that cover HIV, gay men and lesbians are less likely to be on a public health assistance program than straight men or women and are more likely to have private health insurance.
The CDC’s estimates of population translate to just 3.7 million gays and lesbians in the U.S.
