GALHA Survey conducted at London Mardi Gras, July 2000
Members of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association took the opportunity of the London Mardi Gras Festival held in Finsbury Park on 1 July 2000 to undertake a survey to assess the extent of religious belief and involvement in organised religion among lesbians and gay men. The survey also looked at whether there was any significant change in the attitude of lesbians and gay men towards religious organisations as a result of recent religious campaigns against the reform of the age-of-consent law and the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988.
The survey was carried out by interviewing a random sample of people attending the Festival, using a standard set of five multiple-choice questions. A total of 406 respondents completed the survey. The results and their analysis are tabulated below, along with details of the survey questions.
For convenience the results are presented in three tables. Table 1 lists the percentage of the overall sample who gave each answer. It also gives the corresponding breakdown for just those respondents who defined themselves respectively as gay or lesbian. Table 2 provides a similar analysis for respondents who identified themselves respectively as believers or non-believers in God, and for those who said they were respectively involved or not involved in any church or other religious organisation. Finally, Table 3 provides a similar analysis by age group. (For this purpose the two upper age groups have been combined because of the small number of respondents over 55.)
GALHA is grateful to Terry Sanderson for compiling the survey and to Keith Porteous Wood for performing the statistical analysis of the responses.
Table 1: Overall Results, and Analysis by Sexual Orientation
| 1. How would you define your sexuality? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Response | All Respondents (406) | Gay Respondents (248) | Lesbian Respondents (100) |
| Gay | 61% | 100% | - |
| Lesbian | 25% | - | 100% |
| Bisexual | 4% | - | - |
| Straight | 9% | - | - |
| Other | 1% | - | - |
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2. Do you believe in God? |
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| Response | All Respondents | Gay Respondents | Lesbian Respondents |
| Yes | 46% | 45% | 46% |
| No | 44% | 48% | 35% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 7% | 19% |
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3. Are you involved in any church or religious organisation? |
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| Response | All Respondents | Gay Respondents | Lesbian Respondents |
| Yes | 17% | 13% | 16% |
| No | 83% | 87% | 84% |
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4. Have religion’s attempts to influence Parliament on the age of consent and Section 28 made you more or less sympathetic to religious organisations? |
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| Response | All Respondents | Gay Respondents | Lesbian Respondents |
| More sympathetic | 3% | 2% | 4% |
| Less sympathetic | 55% | 59% | 56% |
| Made me hate religion | 6% | 6% | 3% |
| Hasn’t changed my opinion | 32% | 29% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 4% | 3% | 3% |
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5. What is your age group? |
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| Response | All Respondents | Gay Respondents | Lesbian Respondents |
| Under 25 | 12% | 10% | 10% |
| 25-40 | 61% | 62% | 66% |
| 41-55 | 21% | 22% | 21% |
| Over 55 | 6% | 6% | 3% |
Table 2: Analysis by Belief in God, and by Involvement in Religious Organisations
| 1. How would you define your sexuality? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | Believers in God (185 respondents) | Non-Believers in God (177 respondents) | People in Religious Organisations (67 respondents) | People not in Religious Organisations (339 respondents) |
| Gay | 61% | 67% | 49% | 63% |
| Lesbian | 25% | 20% | 24% | 25% |
| Bisexual | 3% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Straight | 10% | 8% | 21% | 6% |
| Other | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
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2. Do you believe in God? |
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| Response | Believers in God | Non-Believers in God | People in Religious Organisations | People not in Religious Organisations |
| Yes | 100% | - | 82% | 38% |
| No | - | 100% | 10% | 50% |
| Don’t know | - | - | 7% | 12% |
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3. Are you involved in any church or religious organisation? |
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| Response | Believers in God | Non-Believers in God | People in Religious Organisations | People not in Religious Organisations |
| Yes | 30% | 4% | 100% | - |
| No | 70% | 96% | - | 100% |
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4. Have religion’s attempts to influence Parliament on the age of consent and Section 28 made you more or less sympathetic to religious organisations? |
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| Response | Believers in God | Non-Believers in God | People in Religious Organisations | People not in Religious Organisations |
| More sympathetic | 4% | 3% | 7% | 2% |
| Less sympathetic | 51% | 60% | 42% | 58% |
| Made me hate religion | 4% | 7% | 3% | 6% |
| Hasn’t changed my opinion | 38% | 27% | 46% | 29% |
| Don’t know | 3% | 3% | 1% | 4% |
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5. What is your age group? |
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| Response | Believers in God | Non-Believers in God | People in Religious Organisations | People not in Religious Organisations |
| Under 25 | 14% | 9% | 19% | 10% |
| 25-40 | 58% | 65% | 49% | 63% |
| 41-55 | 22% | 21% | 19% | 22% |
| Over 55 | 6% | 5% | 12% | 5% |
Table 3: Analysis by Age Group
| 1. How would you define your sexuality? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Response | People under 25 (47 respondents) | People between 25 and 40 (248 respondents) | People over 40 (111 respondents) |
| Gay | 53% | 62% | 62% |
| Lesbian | 21% | 27% | 22% |
| Bisexual | 2% | 4% | 6% |
| Straight | 21% | 7% | 8% |
| Other | 2% | 1% | 2% |
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2. Do you believe in God? |
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| Response | People under 25 | People between 25 and 40 | People over 40 |
| Yes | 53% | 43% | 48% |
| No | 34% | 46% | 41% |
| Don’t know | 13% | 10% | 11% |
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3. Are you involved in any church or religious organisation? |
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| Response | People under 25 | People between 25 and 40 | People over 40 |
| Yes | 28% | 13% | 19% |
| No | 72% | 87% | 81% |
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4. Have religion’s attempts to influence Parliament on the age of consent and Section 28 made you more or less sympathetic to religious organisations? |
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| Response | People under 25 | People between 25 and 40 | People over 40 |
| More sympathetic | 4% | 3% | 3% |
| Less sympathetic | 51% | 55% | 58% |
| Made me hate religion | 0% | 7% | 5% |
| Hasn’t changed my opinion | 40% | 30% | 32% |
| Don’t know | 4% | 4% | 3% |
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5. What is your age group? |
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| Response | People under 25 | People between 25 and 40 | People over 40 |
| Under 25 | 100% | - | - |
| 25-40 | - | 100% | - |
| 41-55 | - | - | 78% |
| Over 55 | - | - | 22% |
© 2009 The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association
