Gay 34

March 02, 2017

The Epidemic of
Gay LonelinessBy Michael Hobbes

“I used to get so elated when the meth was all gone.”

This is my friend Jeremy.

“When you possess it,” he says, “you have to keep using it. When it’s gone, it’s like, ‘Oh excellent, I can go assist to my life now.’ I would stay up all weekend and move to these sex parties and then feel love shit until Wednesday. About two years ago I switched to cocaine because I could work the next day.”

Jeremy is telling me this from a hospital bed, six stories above Seattle. He won’t tell me the explicit circumstances of the overdose, only that a stranger called an ambulance and he woke up here.

Jeremy is not the partner I was expecting to have this conversation with. Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea he used anything heavier than martinis. He is trim, intelligent, gluten-free, the kind of guy who wears a perform shirt no matter what day of the week it is. The first time we met, three years ago, he asked me if I knew a good place to do CrossFit. Today, when I ask him how the hospital’s been so far, the first thing he says is that there’s no Wi-

Hi iam 34 year old,colour brown,i love gay boy

Male (29) looking for Gay CoupleBrampton, Ontario, Canada

Sex Preferences

Use condoms	Yes, Condoms only
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Demeanor	Masculine
HIV Status	Negative

Appearance

Ethnicity	Asian
Build	Fit
Height	178 cm

Glossary of Terms: LGBTQ

Definitions were drafted in collaboration with other U.S.-based LGBTQ group organizations and leaders. See acknowledgements section.

Additional terms and definitions about gender identity and gender expression, transgender people, and nonbinary people are available in the Transgender Glossary.

Are we missing a term or is a definition outdated? Email press@glaad.org

*NOTE: Seek people what terms they use to describe their sexual orientation, gender culture and gender verbalization before assigning them a label. Outside of acronyms, these terms should only be capitalized when used at the beginning of a sentence.

LGBTQ
Acronym for lesbian, lgbtq+, bisexual, transgender, and queer. The Q generally stands for queer when LGBTQ organizations, leaders, and media use the acronym. In settings offering support for youth, it can also stand for questioning. LGBT and LGBTQ+ are also used, with the + added in recognition of all non-straight, non-cisgender identities. (See Transgender Glossary ) Both are acceptable, as are other versions of this acronym. The term “gay community” should be avoided, as it does not accuratel

Adult LGBT Population in the Merged States

This report provides estimates of the number and percent of the U.S. adult population that identifies as LGBT, overall, as well as by age. Estimates of LGBT adults at the national, state, and regional levels are included. We rely on BRFSS 2020-2021 data for these estimates. Pooling multiple years of data provides more stable estimates—particularly at the state level.

Combining 2020-2021 BRFSS data, we estimate that 5.5% of U.S. adults recognize as LGBT. Further, we estimate that there are almost 13.9 million (13,942,200) LGBT adults in the U.S.

Regions and States

LGBT people reside in all regions of the U.S. (Table 2 and Figure 2). Consistent with the overall population in the Together States,more LGBT adults live in the South than in any other region. More than half (57.0%) of LGBT people in the U.S. live in the Midwest (21.1%) and South (35.9%), including 2.9 million in the Midwest and 5.0 million in the South. About one-quarter (24.5%) of LGBT adults reside in the West, approximately 3.4 million people. Less than one in five (18.5%) LGBT adults exist in the Northeast (2.6 million).

The percent of adults who spot as LG