from Medical Issues

The study is said to be the largest of its kind to date, which included surveying 5,500 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals on their lifestyles and mental health.

Participants were recruited through a variety of online resources, including a "Private Lives" forum. A request for candidates posted on January 1, 2005 stated that the survey would "help guide the implementation of services that are more relevant and appropriate to the individuals within it. Your input thereby has the potential to influence the scope of what the public health sector has to offer the queer community and to modify the way health professionals interact with individuals within that community. The data will be analysed and results published in a widely distributed report which will also be online at the survey site."

Of those sampled, 63% were male; 35% were female; 100 were transgendered and 18 were intersexed individuals. Among males, 83% identified as gay; 9% identified as bisexual; 3% did not use an identity label and 2% identified as queer. Of the women surveyed, 49% identified as lesbians; 14% as gay women; 12% as bisexual; 7% did not use a label; 7% identified as dyke; and 6% as queer.

More than 70% of those surveyed had no religious preference; 8% were Catholic; 6% Protestant; and 3% were Buddhists.

More than half of the men surveyed were not in a relationship with anyone; 60% of the women were in a relationship. The study noted that 5% of the men and 8% of the women were involved with opposite sex partners. "Only a very small percentage of men and women (between 5-10%) reported formalizing the relationship with a marriage or commitment ceremony, while most others had no wish to do so," according to the report.

Depression, Abusive Partnerships, Drug Use And STDs
The report found that 33% of the respondents reported having been in an abusive relationship with a same-sex partner. This included verbal or physical abuse. The abusive relationships were higher for women than for men, but was highest for transgendered males.

Drug use was higher than among the general population. Marijuana, esctasy, speed and crystal were the drugs most often used.

Forty percent of the males reported having pubic lice; one in five reported gonorrhea and more than one in ten men reported other STDs. Eight percent of the males were HIV positive. Females also contracted genital warts, chlamydia, herpes, candidiasis, urinary tract infections, vaginitis, PID and triochomonas.

The report also found high rates of depression and suicidal ideation. Of those surveyed, 15.7% "indicated suicidal ideation (thoughts) in the two weeks prior to completing the survey. Depressive disorder was high: 48.6% for men and 44.4% of women scored at least one of the two criteria for a major depressive episode (MDE).

Sexual Behaviors
Two thirds of the men surveyed said they had engaged in casual sex in the past six months. Of those, 39.9% did not use a condom.

Six percent of the men had paid for sex in the past 12 months and 5% had received payment for sex.

Lesbians report a range of sexual practices: 57.6% reported receiving oral sex; 59.6% reported giving oral sex; and other explicit sex practices are listed.

The full text of this study is available here: Private Lives.