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Pew Research Poll: 38% of the public could not name a single gay or lesbian public figure; Ellen named by 32%
Gee, do you think a whole bunch of Americans are not as big a pop culture junkie as I am?
Ask me to name a famous gay and I think it’s reached a point where I could rattle off dozens of names off the top of my head then sit down and come up with some more.
Zachary Quinto, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Rosie O’Donnell, Sara Gilbert, Sam Champion, Tuc Watkins, Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres, Robbie Rogers, Adam Lambert, Clay Aiken, Lance Bass, Neil Patrick Harris, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
That’s 15 names in about 90 seconds.
Okay, give me another 60 seconds: Dustin Lance Black, Barney Frank, Harvey Fierstein, Melissa Etheridge, Jason Collins, Meredith Baxter, Jane Lynch, Chris Colfer, Luke Macfarlane, TR Knight, Jonathan Groff.
60 seconds up. Give me 30 seconds more: Anderson Cooper, Thomas Roberts, Elton John, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Amelie Mauresmo, Cheryl Swoops.
But when 1,504 adults, 18 years of age or older, were surveyed by the Pew Research Center on a variety of LGBT topics, 38% of the public could not name any gay or lesbian public figure. This includes 61% of those age 65 and older and 57% those with no more than a high school education.
Oy vey!
It should come as no surprise that Ellen DeGeneres is by far the most visible lesbian in America with her syndicated daytime talk show on the air five times a week.
But it is a bit a surprise that Jason Collins, an NBA player most people had not heard of until he came out publicly last month, is already the most visible gay man – even more visible than Elton John.
DeGeneres easily came in first with 32% naming her as most visible. In second place was Collins with 7% of the vote followed closely by Elton John with 6%.
Tied in fourth place with 3% each were Rosie O’Donnell, Anderson Cooper, retired US Congressman Barney Frank and the late Rock Hudson. Ricky Martin and the late Liberace each got 2% while Neil Patrick Harris was mentioned by 1%.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Mike says:
Oh dear, I only knew about 75% of the ones you came up with off the top of your head, not sure what the reason could be, but, some of the out public figures are just maybe not that well known? I thought I was a up to date on gays in the public eye, I guess not as good as I thought I was!
I had to do a google for Luke Macfarlane, Jonathan Groff,Tuc Watkins, Robbie Rogers, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as none of them rang an immediate bell for me.
Greg Hernandez says:
You must not read my blog often enough Mike, I write about those people A LOT.
Robert Kabwe says:
My best friend is straight, well educated, gay friendly. But he was shocked when he heard Anderson Cooper was gay. People ask me where I find out all this information, and ive come to the conclusion that we all read blogs and news in the topics that interest us, so what might be common knowledge among gay circles might not be among others. In order for a high profile person to be known as openly gay among the ‘mainstream’ I think they need to make an extra effort, like Ellen, to announce it. Otherwise it remains kind of tacit almost hidden in plain sight knowledge.