title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The FBI arrested Soliah/Olson in 1999 after a tip was received by the television show "America's Most Wanted", which had twice aired her profile. She was prosecuted in Los Angeles by its deputy district attorneys. Before going to trial in 2001, she pleaded guilty to possession of explosives with the intent to murder and was sentenced to two consecutive terms of ten years to life. In negotiation of the plea bargain, she had been told that she would serve no more than eight years. She attempted to change her plea, telling the judge that she had pleaded guilty only because she believed she could not receive a fair trial for bombing charges after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She said that she was innocent of the making, possessing, or placing of the pipe bombs. The judge refused her request.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The Opsahl murder/Crocker bank robbery cold case was finally pursued due to new evidence developed through the efforts of the Los Angeles deputy district attorneys, who had prosecuted Olson. On January 16, 2002, first-degree murder charges for the killing of Myrna Opsahl were filed against Sara Jane Olson, Emily Harris, William Harris, Michael Bortin, and James Kilgore in Sacramento. All were living "above ground" and were quickly arrested except for Kilgore. He had been living in South Africa and remained at large for nearly another year.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: On November 7, 2002, Olson, the Harrises, and Bortin pleaded guilty to reduced second-degree murder charges. The Harrises had divorced and Emily took back her surname of Montague. She admitted to holding the murder weapon but said that the shotgun had gone off accidentally. Hearst had earlier said that Montague had dismissed the murder at the time saying, "She was a bourgeois pig anyway. Her husband is a doctor." In court, Montague denied having said this. She added, "I do not want [the Opsahl family] to believe that we ever considered her life insignificant."


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: Sentences were handed down on February 14, 2003, in Sacramento for the four defendants in the Opsahl murder case. Montague was sentenced to eight years for second degree murder. Her former husband, William Harris, was sentenced to seven years, and Bortin to six years. Olson was sentenced to six years, adding two consecutively to the 14-year sentence she had already received. All sentences were the maximum allowed under their plea bargains.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: On November 8, 2002, James Kilgore was arrested in South Africa after having been a fugitive since 1975. He was extradited to the United States to face federal explosives and passport fraud charges. Prosecutors alleged that a pipe bomb had been found in Kilgore's apartment in 1975 and that he had obtained a passport under a false name. He pleaded guilty to the charges in 2003.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: Sara Jane Olson was expecting to receive a sentence of 5 years and 4 months, but "in stiffening Olson's sentence ..., the prison board turned to a seldom-used section of state law, allowing it to recalculate sentences for old crimes in light of new, tougher sentencing guidelines." Olson was sentenced to 14 years— later reduced to 13 years—plus six years for her role in the Opsahl killing. Hearst had immunity because she was a state's witness. But the plea bargains meant that no trial was held, and she never testified on this case.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: On April 26, 2004, Kilgore was sentenced to 54 months in prison for the explosives and passport fraud charges. He was the last remaining SLA member to face federal prosecution.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: After serving six years of her prison sentence, Sarah Jane Olson was released on parole. She reunited with her family in California on March 17, 2008. But after a discovery that her release was premature because of a clerical error, she was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and notified that her right to travel out of state had been rescinded. She was returned to prison for a year.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: On March 17, 2009, Sarah Olson was released after serving seven years of her 14-year sentence. She was to check in with her parole officer in Los Angeles where it would be determined if she would be allowed to serve her parole in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and three daughters. Several officials, including the Governor of Minnesota, urged that she serve her parole in California, but she was finally allowed to return to Minnesota and serve it there.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: As of 2016, founding member Joseph Remiro remains incarcerated, serving a life sentence for the murder of Marcus Foster. He is the only SLA member still in prison and was up for parole in 2019.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The SLA distributed photographs, news releases and radio-quality taped interviews in which they explained their past activities to the press. The Bay Area Research Collective was formed as an above-ground support group for the SLA, and distributed a mimeographed newsletter, "The Dragon". Since that time the SLA's activities have been covered in other ways in the media. These include films and television shows, such as:


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: Patti Smith's 1974 single of Jimi Hendrix's 1960s song "Hey Joe" begins with a salacious and provocative monologue about Patty Hearst and the SLA, which puts a feminist spin on the lyrics that had been written about a man who murders his adulterous wife and then flees to Mexico.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: Honey, the way you play guitar makes me feel so... makes me feel so..."masochistic". The way you go down low deep into the neck... and I would do anything... and I would do anything. And Patty Hearst, you standing there in front of the Symbionese Liberation Army flag with your legs spread. I was wondering: were you gettin' it every night from a black revolutionary man and his women? Or were you really dead? And now that you're on the run, what goes on in your mind? Your sisters they sit by the window. You know, your mama does sit and cry. And your daddy—well, you know what your daddy said Patty. You know what your daddy said, Patty? He said... he said... he said... "Well, sixty days ago she was such a lovely child. Now here she is, with a gun in her hand.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: Thus, Smith's version effectively casts Patty Hearst in the role of Joe "with a gun in her hand"—a violent criminal rebelling against the law and all civil authority. Before the fadeout, Smith sings in the voice of Hearst angrily repudiating both her privileged upbringing as well as the mainstream society which has condemned her as a spoiled, vacuous "pretty little rich girl" who became a terrorist. This particular recording was made when Patty Hearst was still a fugitive and members of the SLA were still at large.


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The 1976 film "Network" features a Maoist insurgent group, the Ecumenical Liberation Army. Although the film distinguishes it from the SLA, it is plainly a parody of the group and its relationship with the television business. Over the course of the film, the ELA kidnaps an heiress and reeducates her into the group, robs a bank, and negotiates with the titular network for its own prime-time program, "The Mao Tse-Tung Hour".


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The Norwegian rock band Turbonegro included the seven-headed cobra symbol on the front cover of their 1998 album "Apocalypse Dudes".


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The episode "Inheritance" from the CBS action-drama series "S.W.A.T." focuses on the group of criminals with nearly similar motives and tactics as the SLA, later identified as "The Emancipators".


title: Symbionese Liberation Army

text: The Horror punk band Misfits have a song named "She" on their debut album "Static Age" which is about the Patty Hearst case and the ensuing controversy.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee (Technical Study Group) and the winner voted for by representatives of the media. Those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the "Silver Ball" and "Bronze Ball" awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively. The current award was introduced in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, sponsored by Adidas and "France Football". At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Lionel Messi became the first player to win two Golden Balls.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: In July 1978, a panel of 23 international experts which consisted of critics, coaches, and former players each chose the five best players of the 1978 tournament. Mario Kempes got the most votes as a result of the counting. FIFA website and RSSSF also mentioned Kempes as a Golden Ball winner. The FIFA website and RSSSF only mention Dirceu as the Bronze Ball winner, even though Dirceu and Hans Krankl had the same amount of top five finishes.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: Authoritative football historian and statistician Ejikeme Ikwunze, popularly called "Mr. Football", published a list of the best players in his book "World Cup (1930-2010): A Statistical Summary", and it gained the most attention among experts' selections about the best players until 1974. This work is part of the official FIFA library and received public recognition from his former presidents Joao Havelange and Joseph Blatter. "Sports Illustrated" and a writer Nick Holt also reported the same list. A considerable number of other media including FIFA website agreed in several cases such as José Nasazzi, Leônidas, Zizinho, Didí, Garrincha, Bobby Charlton, Pelé (Gold and Silver Ball), Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer (Silver Ball), Josef Masopust (Silver Ball), Fritz Walter (Bronze Ball), György Sárosi (Bronze Ball) and Eusébio (Bronze Ball). The FIFA website lists Sándor Kocsis as the 1954 Golden Ball winner.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: On August 2, 1950, the German newspaper "Kicker" (then "Sport-Magazin") published an article, written by Dr. Friedebert Becker, in which Dr. Becker chose in his opinion the best players of the tournament.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: "France Football", the sponsor of Golden Ball and Ballon d'Or, selected the best player of the 1966 FIFA World Cup at that time with "L'Équipe", and Bobby Charlton became the winner. The FIFA website also seems to agree on Bobby Charlton winning the Golden Ball and Eusébio winning the Bronze Ball.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: In 1998 the Argentinian newspaper "Clarín" provided a brief description of each star player dating back to 1930. Some are controversial decisions as is the case with retrospective awards. The 1998 winner was awarded after the tournament ended.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The Golden Boot or Golden Shoe award goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. While every World Cup had a ranking of the goalscorers, the first time an award was given was in 1982, under the name Golden Shoe. It was rechristened Golden Boot in 2010. FIFA sometimes lists the top goalscorers of previous Cups among the Golden Boot winners.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: If there is more than one player with the same number of goals, since 1994 the tie-breaker goes to the player with more assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie (since 2006) is decided by minutes played in the tournament, with the player playing fewest minutes ranked first. A Silver Boot and a Bronze Boot are also awarded for the second and third-highest goalscorers respectively.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The Golden Glove award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name "Lev Yashin Award" in 1994, in honor of the late Soviet goalkeeper. It was rechristened "Golden Glove" in 2010. The FIFA Technical Study Group recognises the top goalkeeper of the tournament based on the player's performance throughout the final competition. Although goalkeepers have this specific award for their position, they are still eligible for the Golden Ball as well, as when Oliver Kahn was awarded in 2002.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The FIFA Young Player Award ("Best Young Player Award" 2006–2010) was awarded for the first time at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and given to Germany's Lukas Podolski. The award is given to the best player in the tournament who is at most 21 years old. For the 2022 World Cup, this meant that the player had to have been born on or after 1 January 2001.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: In 2006, the election took place on FIFA's official World Cup website with the help of The FIFA Technical Study Group.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: FIFA organised a survey on the Internet for users to choose the "Best Young Player" of the World Cup, between 1958 and 2002, named the best young player of each tournament. With 61% of the overall vote, the winner was Pelé, who finished ahead of the Peruvian Teófilo Cubillas, the best young player at Mexico 1970, and England's Michael Owen, who reached similar heights at France 98.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The FIFA Fair Play Trophy is given to the team with the best record of fair play during the World Cup final tournament since 1970. Only teams that qualified for the second round are considered. The winners of this award earn the FIFA Fair Play Trophy, a diploma, a fair play medal for each player and official, and $50,000 worth of football equipment to be used for youth development.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The appearance of the award was originally a certificate. From 1982 to 1990, it was a golden trophy based on Sport Billy, a football-playing cartoon character from 1982 who became an icon for FIFA Fair play. Ever since 1994, it is simply a trophy with an elegant footballer figure. Peru was the first nation to win the award after receiving no yellow or red cards in the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The Player of the Match (POTM) award picks the outstanding player in every match of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name "Man of the Match" in 2002. It was rechristened "Player of the Match" in 2022.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: While the inaugural two editions were chosen by the technical group, Since 2010, Player of the Match is picked by an online poll on FIFA's website.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The Most Entertaining Team award is a subjectively awarded prize for the team that had done the most to entertain the public with a positive approach to the game, organised through public participation in a poll starting in 1994.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: The All-Star Team is a team of the best performers at the respective World Cup finals. Since 1994, FIFA decided to add official best squads, chosen by its Technical Study Group under the brand name "MasterCard All-Star Team". For 1998, 2002 and 2006, substitute and reserve members were also nominated for full squads.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: FIFA published the first All-Star Team in 1938, but it never made All-Star Team again until 1990 due to ensuing complaints. In January 1959, the host of 1958 tournament Swedish Federation published an All-Star Team based on 720 answers out of 1,200 experts. In 1990 there was an All-Star Team announced in combination with the Golden Ball ceremony. It was chosen by the same journalists who chose the best player, but this team is still considered unofficial.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: After FIFA changed its sponsor from MasterCard to Visa in 2007, it published Team of the Tournament based on statistical data of other sponsors, which evaluates players' performances. FIFA explained these are not official.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: Since 2010, the fans' "Dream Team" has been voted by online poll of FIFA website, but FIFA explained this is also not official team.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: Since the beginning many newspapers gave players points to players based on their performances at the World Cup. Some are based in statistics, but some were just rankings given by experts. Castrol Football has given retrospective rankings to players until 1966 with their expert panel consisting of people such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsène Wenger, Marcel Desailly, Cafu, Alan Shearer, Emilio Butragueño, Ronald Koeman, Pierluigi Collina, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Gary Bailey, Peter Stöger, Mohamed Al-Deayea and Stanislav Levý.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: Many different newspapers, sports journalists, managers and former players have picked their All-Star teams for the tournaments over the years. Newspapers which picked their All-Star teams include "Sport-Magazin", "Mundo Esportivo, France Football, Associated Press, Estadio, El Gráfico, Goles, Guerin Sportivo, Crónica, El Mercurio, La Prensa, Clarín, La Razón, El País, L'Équipe, Mundo Deportivo, De Volkskrant, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Don Balón, La Stampa, Kicker, Deporte Gráfico, Spotivo Sur, Match, Fußball Woche," "Placar, Shoot!, BBC Sport, Süddeutsche Zeitung", "Diario AS" and "Marca".


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: Sports journalists, managers and former players who picked their All-Star teams include Dr. Friedebert Becker, Gabriel Hanot, Enzo Bearzot, Pelé, Roberto Bettega, Eugenio Bersellini, Giovanni Trapattoni, Massimo Giacomini, Sandro Mazzola, Paolo Carosi, Jimmy Greaves, Pichi Alonso and Johan Cruyff.


title: FIFA World Cup awards

text: Until 1990, FIFA did not publish the All-Star Team, but some blog level websites put up the list of best teams from 1930 edition to 1990 edition. According to them, a technical study group consisting of journalists - mostly from Europe and South America - and experts has historically chosen the team. However, this list lacks to be recognized as awards. FIFA website mentioned Djalma Santos (1954, 1958, 1962), Franz Beckenbauer (1966, 1970, 1974), and Elías Figueroa (1974) as winners among the list, but it did not announce all winners.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Obtaining precise numbers on the demographics of sexual orientation is difficult for a variety of reasons, including the nature of the research questions. Most of the studies on sexual orientation rely on self-reported data, which may pose challenges to researchers because of the subject matter's sensitivity. The studies tend to pose two sets of questions. One set examines self-report data of same-sex sexual experiences and attractions, while the other set examines self-report data of personal identification as homosexual or bisexual. Overall, fewer research subjects identify as homosexual or bisexual than report having had sexual experiences or attraction to a person of the same sex. Survey type, questions and survey setting may affect the respondents' answers.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: This article lists demographic studies of sexual orientation from different countries. Tables comparing several cities' population numbers are also included below.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A 2016 literature review stated that "in all cultures the vast majority of individuals are sexually predisposed exclusively to the other sex (i.e., heterosexual) and that only a minority of individuals are sexually predisposed (whether exclusively or non-exclusively) to the same sex." They state that there is no persuasive evidence that the demographics of sexual orientation have varied much across time or place. Bisexuality comes in varying degrees of relative attraction to the same or opposite sex. Men are more likely to be exclusively homosexual than to be equally attracted to both sexes, while the opposite is true for women.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Surveys in Western cultures find, on average, that about 93% of men and 87% of women identify as completely heterosexual, 4% of men and 10% of women as mostly heterosexual, 0.5% of men and 1% of women as evenly bisexual, 0.5% of men and 0.5% of women as mostly homosexual, and 2% of men and 0.5% of women as completely homosexual. An analysis of 67 studies found that the lifetime prevalence of sex between men (regardless of orientation) was 3–5% for East Asia, 6–12% for South and South East Asia, 6–15% for Eastern Europe, and 6–20% for Latin America. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance estimates a worldwide prevalence of men who have sex with men between 3 and 16 percent.<ref name="International HIV/AIDS Alliance 2003"></ref>


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A small number of people do not feel sexual attraction and identify as asexual, which can be considered a sexual orientation in itself or a lack thereof.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In 2021, Ipsos interviewed people in 27 countries spanning all continents on their sexual orientation and gender identity. For some countries the samples were weighed for representativity, but in others with less internet access, they skewed more urban. In this survey, 80% of people worldwide identified as heterosexual, 3% as homosexual, 4% as bisexual, and 1% each as pansexual, asexual, and other. Results indicated that significant differences in sexual identity have emerged between generations across the globe, with the youngest group, or Generation Z, being more likely to identify as bisexual (9%) than Millennials (4%), Generation X (3%) and Boomers (2%). Generation Z and Millennials were also more likely to identify as homosexual, with 4% and 3% doing so respectively, compared to 2% of Generation X and 1% of Boomers. In addition, the survey found that men are more likely than women to identify as homosexual (4% vs. 1%). The survey found that Sweden was the country with the highest rate of individuals identifying as transgender.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The then largest and most thorough survey in Australia was conducted by telephone interview with 19,307 respondents between the ages of 16 and 59 in 2001/2002. The study found that 97.4% of men identified as heterosexual, 1.6% as homosexual and 0.9% as bisexual. For women 97.7% identified as heterosexual, 0.8% as lesbian and 1.4% as bisexual. Nevertheless, 8.6% of men and 15.1% of women reported either feelings of attraction to the same gender or some sexual experience with the same gender. Overall, 8.6% of women and 5.9% of men reported some homosexual experience in their lives; these figures fell to 5.7% and 5.0% respectively when non-genital sexual experience was excluded. Half the men and two thirds of the women who had same-sex sexual experience regarded themselves as heterosexual rather than homosexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: An update on the above study; it employs the same methodology, has a larger sample (20,055 respondents), and a broader respondent age range (16–69). The study found that 96.5% of the entire sample (or 96.8% of the men and 96.3% of the women) identified as heterosexual, a drop from the 2003 findings (97.5%). Homosexuals accounted for 1.9% of the male population and 1.2% of the female population, a non-significant difference between the sexes. Bisexuals accounted for 1.3% of the male population and 2.2% of the female population. Women were significantly more likely than men to identify as bisexual, and less likely to report exclusively other-sex or same-sex attraction and experience. Similarly, more women reported same-sex experience and same-sex attraction. Nine percent of men and 19% of women had some history of same-sex attraction or experience. More women identified as lesbian or bisexual than in 2001–02. Homosexual/gay identity was more common among men with university education and living in cities, and much less common among men with blue-collar jobs. Both male and female bisexuality were more common among respondents under the age of 20. Male bisexuality was also overrepresented among men in their sixties.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In interviews with 180,000 Australians aged 14+, Roy Morgan Research reported in 2014 that 4.1% of men and 2.8% of women identified as homosexual. Men outnumbered women among homosexuals in all age groups. For both sexes, the share identifying as homosexual was highest in the 20–29 age group.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The 2014 General Social Survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, estimated that over half a million people, or 3% of the adult population, identified as gay, lesbian, or 'other'.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A study conducted by BioMed Central estimated that 3.6% of males and 3.4% of females were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or another sexual minority.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A 2018 study reported that the percentage of people identifying as LGB in Austria was 6.2% (broken into 5.5% for males and 6.8% for females).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a sample of 2,054 Brazilians aged 18 to 60 years of age, the Datafolha pollster found that 14% (or 15% of men and 13% of women) feel at least some same-sex attraction, while 70% did not feel any such attraction; the remaining 16% did not answer the question. Seventy-four percent of Brazilians said they never had a homosexual experience, 16% refused to answer the question, and 9% said they had some homosexual experience. The percentage with homosexual experience was higher among men (14%) than among women (5%), and higher also among those with more formal education (15%), singles (12%), and Northeasterners (11%). The non-religious (18%) and Pentecostal Protestants (11%) were more likely to have had homosexual experiences than Catholics (8%).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an Ibope survey with a sample of 2,363 Brazilian Internet users weighted for national representativity, 83% declared themselves heterosexual, 7% homosexual, 5% bisexual, 1% other, and 4% refused to disclose their orientation. Twice as many male internet users as females identified as gay or bisexual (16% vs. 8%). People aged 18–29 were the most likely to identify as non-heterosexual (15%), followed by those aged 30–49 (10%). Only 5% of the population aged 50 or more consider themselves gay or bisexual. Among non-heterosexuals, 42% said they had no religion, compared to 13% of the heterosexual population. The Class B (middle class) had the highest percentage of non-heterosexuals (14%), followed by Class A (upper class, 11%). Classes C and D (lower–middle and low classes) had 10% gays and bisexuals. Among the Brazilian regions, Northern Brazil had the lowest percentage of non-heterosexuals (2%). All other regions had percentages at or above 10%, with the Center-West reporting the highest (14%).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A study of 5,514 college and university students under the age of 25 found 1% who were homosexual and 1% who were bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an interactive voice response telephone survey of around 2,700 Canadians, 5.3% identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Canadians aged 18–34 were much more likely to identify as LGBT (11.1%) than those in older brackets (2.6–3.4%).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A random survey found that 2.7% of the 1,373 men who responded to their questionnaire had homosexual experience (intercourse).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A study of 20,055 people found that 4.1% of the men and 2.6% of the women had at least one occurrence of sexual relations with person of the same sex during their lifetime.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a nationally representative online survey of 7,841 French adults carried out by IFOP in early 2011, 6.6% of respondents identified as homosexual (3.6%) or bisexual (3%), and 90.8% as heterosexual. Compared to the heterosexual population, the homosexual population was much more likely to be male, single, and younger than 65, as well as to be living alone. Homosexuals were more likely to be economically active and work in "superior intellectual professions" but on average had a smaller household income. They were also more likely to be residing in big cities, especially in the region of Paris. The bisexual population had fewer statistically significant deviations from the heterosexual population, resembling the heterosexuals on some measures, homosexuals on others, or being at a midpoint on still some others. However, they were more likely to be aged 18–24 than the other two groups. Like homosexuals, they were also more likely to be single.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In another IFOP survey of 9,515 French adults conducted later that same year, 6.5% of the sample identified as homosexual (3%) or bisexual (3.5%). Among LGBs, men outnumbered women by more than 2 to 1.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Based in a survey with about 10,000 respondents, IFOP estimated that 90% of French people are heterosexual, 3% identify as bisexual, and 4% consider themselves homosexual. Two percent say they have not embraced a definition for their sexuality, and 1% did not wish to respond. More women than men are heterosexual (93% "versus" 86%), whereas more men than women identify as homosexual (7% v. 1%) and to a lesser extent bisexual (4% v. 2%). A homosexual or bisexual identity was more common in people aged 18–49 (9%) than among those aged 50–64 (6%) or over 65 (4%). More singles than people in relationships identified as homo- or bisexual (11% v. 6%). An LGB identity is also more common among people who said they have had more than 10 sex partners or none at all compared to those who have had intermediary levels of sexual experience. Catholics are more likely to identify as heterosexual (91%) than people who said they had some other religion or no religion whatsoever (88% each).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A female-only survey found that 4% of French women identify as gay or bisexual. In the category of women aged less than 25, 9% identify as bisexual and 1% as lesbian.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In another IFOP survey of Paris residents, 79% of men and 90% of women identified as heterosexual, 13% of men and 1% of women as homosexual, and 6% of men and 4% of women as bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: According to Yougov, the following is how German adults are distributed along the Kinsey scale (by age):


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a nationally representative, face-to-face survey with over 2,500 Germans (55% female), it was found that 86% of men and 82% of women identify as exclusively heterosexual, 3% of men and 4% of women are mostly heterosexual, 1% of each sex declared themselves bisexual, and 1.5% as predominantly or exclusively homosexual. Other sexual orientations were reported by 3% of men and 4% of women. One percent of each sex was uncertain. Four percent of men and 7% of women gave no answer.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: An estimation from 2005 gave around 6.9% as the proportion of the population that is homosexual in Iceland.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A study of the responses of 7,441 individuals, conducted by the ESRI, found that 2.7% of men and 1.2% of women self-identified as homosexual or bisexual. A question based on a variant of the Kinsey scale found that 5.3% of men and 5.8% of women reported some same-sex attraction. Of those surveyed, 7.1% of men and 4.7% of women reported a homosexual experience some time in their life so far. It also found that 4.4% of men and 1.4% of women reported a "genital same-sex experience" (oral or anal sex, or any other genital contact) in their life so far. The study was commissioned and published by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency in partnership with the Department of Health and Children.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a sample representative of the Israeli Jewish population aged 18 to 44, it was found that 11.3% of men and 15.2% of women self-reported attraction to the same-gender, 10.2% and 8.7% reported lifetime same-gender encounters, while 8.2% and 4.8% self-identified as gay or bisexual men and lesbian or bisexual women, respectively. A non-heterosexual identity was more common in Tel Aviv than in other parts of the country and, among men, it was also correlated with younger age.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a survey employing the Kinsey scale, 4.5% of non-religious Israelis placed themselves on points 5 or 6 on the scale, indicating a homosexual orientation with minor or non-existent opposite-sex attraction, and 91.5% placed themselves on points 0 or 1, which indicates a heterosexual orientation with minor or non-existent same-sex attraction. In the category of young adults, aged 18 to 24, 7.4% placed themselves on Kinsey points 5 or 6, and 80% on points 0 or 1. Compared to the larger population, more young adults also placed themselves on point 3 of the Kinsey scale, meaning that equal attraction to both sexes (4.2% "versus" 1%), and on point 2, meaning a mostly heterosexual orientation with major homosexual attraction (7.4% v. 2.3%). Point 4 of the Kinsey scale, indicating a mostly homosexual orientation with major heterosexual attraction, contained a similar share of young adults and all adults (1.1% v. 0.7%).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A random survey of 7,725 Italians (18–74 years old) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics between June and December 2011 with CAPI technique found that about 2.4% of the population declared to be homosexual or bisexual, 77% heterosexual, 0.1% transsexual, 4% reported to be "other", 15.6% did not answer. An extended survey including all the people that during their lives fell or are in love with a same-sex individual, or that had sexual intercourse with a same-sex individual, increases the percentage to 6.7% of the population. More men than women, more northerners than southerners, more younger than older people identified themselves as homosexuals. Members of 7725 families spread over 660 Italian municipalities took part in the survey.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: According to a nationally representative study organized by Kantar TNS, 88% of Mexican men aged 18 to 30 years identify as heterosexual, 6% as homosexual, 5% as bisexual, and 1% as other.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a face-to-face survey carried out by the Dutch National Survey of General Practice, of the 4,229 men with a valid answer to the sexual orientation question, 1.5% self-identified as gay, 0.6% as bisexual and 97.9% as heterosexual. Of the 5,282 women, 1.5% self-identified as lesbian, 1.2% as bisexual, and 97.3% as heterosexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an anonymous survey of 8,000 New Zealand secondary school students conducted by the University of Auckland, 0.9% of those surveyed reported exclusive attraction to the same sex, 3.3% to both sexes and 1.8% to neither.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study is a prospective study that looked at changes in sexual behavior, attraction, and identity among around 1,000 New Zealanders born in 1972 or 1973. Samples were first interviewed in 1993, when they were 21, and again at ages 26, 32, and 38, in 2010/2011. The study found a strong decrease in the share of women who self-reported exclusive heterosexual attraction from age 21 (88.3%) to age 26 (82.5%), but a small increase at age 32 (84.2%) and again at 38 (87.6%). By contrast, among men, the share self-reporting exclusive heterosexual attraction remained largely stable between ages 21 (94.9%) and 32 (94.2%), with a small decrease at age 38 (92.9%). Sexual identity was only assessed at ages 32 and 38. At age 32, 0.9% of women and 1.3% of men self-identified as gay, and 2.9% of women and 1.7% of men as bisexual. Additionally, 1.5% of women and 2.2% of men identified as "other". At age 38, 1.1% of women and 1.7% of men self-identified as gay, and 2.6% of women and 3% of men as bisexual, with 1.1% of women and 0.2% of men identifying as "other". While sexual attraction changed more for women than for men, changes among men were more consistently to greater homosexuality, while changes among women past age 26 occurred equally in both directions (i.e., to both more and less heterosexual attraction). Researchers discussed several factors behind the changes, from age effects to cultural effects, with homosexuality, especially female homosexuality, becoming more socially acceptable in the West in the 1990s and 2000s.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: According to results from the fifth wave of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, which interviewed over 14,000 people about their sexual orientation, 94.2% of New Zealanders identify as heterosexual, 2.6% as gay or lesbian, 1.8% as bisexual, 0.6% as bicurious, 0.5% as pansexual, and 0.3% as asexual. No gender differences were found in the share of New Zealanders identifying as heterosexual (94.1% of men and 94.4% of women) or pansexual (0.5% of both men and women), but men were more likely to identify as gay (3.5%) than women (1.8%), and women were more likely than men to identify as bisexual (2.1% "versus" 1.5%), bicurious (0.7% v. 0.4%) and asexual (0.4% v. 0.1%). Women in all the non-heterosexual categories were significantly younger than women in the heterosexual category. Men in the gay, bisexual, and bicurious categories were also significantly younger than heterosexual men.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a random survey of 6,300 Norwegians, 3.5% of the men and 3% of the women reported that they had a homosexual experience sometime in their life.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an anonymous survey of 1,971 male high school students performed in 2003, 1% self-reported having had a boyfriend and 2% having fallen in love with a man.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey conducted in 2013 by the University of the Philippines found that 96.2% of youth describe themselves as straight/heterosexual. 2.1% described themselves as gay or lesbian while 1.7% are bisexual. 2.4% of men described themselves as gay, while 1.8% of women described themselves as lesbian.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A volunteer-based research of adult Poles showed that different modes of survey produce significant differences in the share of people who admit homosexual attraction. In paper-based surveys, 6% of respondents self-reported same-sex attraction, compared to 12% of online respondents. There were no other significant differences in other aspects of sexual life, and the two sets of volunteers were similar in age, education, and geographical location.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A national survey from 2005 by Eurosondagem for the weekly national newspaper Expresso, estimated that about 9.9% (1 million) of the Portuguese people are homosexual or bisexual. This study used anonymous and confidential surveys. For people more than 15 years old, 7% stated that they are homosexual, 2.9% that they are bisexual and 90.1% are heterosexual. Among those who indicate that they are homosexual or bisexual, there was no major difference between men (7.3% and 2.8%) and women (6.8% and 3%) respectively. Only about 50% of LGB people in Portugal are socially open about their sexual orientation.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Another survey from 2012 for the same weekly newspaper, with 1,220 respondents more than 18 years old, used a 100 question survey about sexuality. They found that 77.5% are exclusively heterosexual, 2.1% are predominantly heterosexual, 0.6% are bisexual, 0.4% are predominantly homosexual and 1.6% are exclusively homosexual. 17.8% preferred not to answer about their sexual orientation. Of those who identified as heterosexual, 5.7% claimed to have already kissed, 1.3% claimed to feel attraction, and 1% claimed to have already had sex with someone of the same sex.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a 2016 report titled: 'Progressive Prudes: A Survey of Attitudes towards Homosexuality and Gender Non-Conformity in South Africa' produced by the Other Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council, found that 530,000 men and women of all population groups, both rural and urban dwelling, and across age groups, self-identify as either homosexual, bisexual, or gender non-conforming.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In 2019, an OECD report noted that "Korea does not have any nationally representative survey that includes a survey question on self-identification as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, nor does it collect information on the share of transgender people among the adult population."


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The sixth edition of the Barómetro Control sexual behavior survey, which was performed in 2017, and is representative of the Spanish population aged 18 to 35, found that 89% of young Spanish adults identify as heterosexual, 6% as male homosexual, 3% as female homosexual, and 2% as bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an anonymous survey of 1,978 male high school students performed in 2003, respondents answered a question regarding same-sex attraction by choosing a number in a 5-point Likert scale (1 = no and 5 = strong). Those who marked the number 5 made up 4% of the sample and those who marked the numbers 3 or 4, presented by researchers as self-reporting "some" same-sex attraction, 7 percent.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A study of 8,337 British men found that 6.1% have had a "homosexual experience" and 3.6% had "1+ homosexual partner ever."


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: HM Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry completed a survey to help the government analyse the financial implications of the Civil Partnerships Act (such as pensions, inheritance and tax benefits). They concluded that there were 3.6 million gay people in Britain—around 6% of the total population or 1 in 16.66 people.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a survey of around 1,000 Britons using a self-completed questionnaire, 2% of the total sample identified as bisexual, 4% as homosexual, and 92% as heterosexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an online survey with over 75,000 YouGov panelists in Britain, 90.9% identified as heterosexual, 5.8% as gay, lesbian or bisexual, 1.3% opted not to give an answer, and 2.1% gave other reasons. The sample was recruited to closely match the overall British population on demographic variables such as age, gender, employment status and socio-economic classification. Among men, around 89% identified as heterosexual, 5.5% identified as gay, and 2.5% as bisexual. Straight women constituted around 93% of all women, lesbians were 1.4%, and bisexual women 2.3 percent. A little over two percent of each sex identified as "Other", and a little over 1% did not want to indicate a sexual orientation. Non-heterosexuals tended to be younger, and this was especially the case for bisexual women and gay men, whose average ages were 32 and 36 respectively, compared to an average of 47 among heterosexuals. Ethnic minorities were less likely to identify as gay or lesbian than Whites (1.4% vs. 3.5%) but were more likely to prefer not to disclose their sexual orientation (7.5% vs 0.9%). Sexual minorities tended to concentrate more in certain parts of the country—in London especially, where 27% of gay men and lesbians, as well as 19% of bisexuals, took residence, compared to only 14% of heterosexuals. Employment status also correlated with sexual orientation, as more gay than straight men worked full-time (three-quarters v. 57%), and the same was true among women (lesbians: 58%, straight women: 41%). Similarly, gay men (73%) and lesbians (66%) were overrepresented among the upper classes (classes ABC1), though the difference between heterosexuals and bisexuals (54% v. 58%) was not statistically significant. LGB people—especially lesbians—also had on average higher educational achievement.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The study argued for the need to provide strong anonymity to respondents in order to gauge the true size of the non-heterosexual population, as more LGB than heterosexual respondents indicated they would be less likely to disclose their true sexual orientation in a face-to-face interview than in a self-administered, online survey.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In an anonymous online sex survey carried out by "The Observer" on the sex lives of the British, 4% of the 1,052 samples surveyed identified as gay or lesbian, and another 4% as bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a nationally representative Survation study of 1,003 British women, 92% identified as heterosexual, 1.6% as gay or lesbian, 3.5% as bisexual, 0.3% as other, and 2.6% refused to disclose their sexual orientation. Sexual orientation appeared to be linked with age. Millennial women, aged 18–34, were significantly more likely to identify as bisexual (6.6%) than women aged 35–54 (1.4%) or older women (0.7%). Age differences were smaller for lesbian identity, but the pattern was the same, with 1.9% younger women identifying as lesbian, compared with 1.6% of middle aged and 1.3% of older women. Heterosexual identity followed the opposite pattern, being highest among older women (95.3%) and lowest among Millennials (89.1%). Sexual identity was also strongly correlated with childlessness, with 9.6% of childless women identifying as gay or bisexual, compared with 3.6% of women with underage children, and 0.5% of women with adult children.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a YouGov survey of 1,632 adults, 5.5% identified as gay, 2.1% as bisexual, and 88.7% as heterosexual. Asked to place themselves on the Kinsey scale, 72% of all adults, and 46% of adults aged 18–24 years, picked a score of zero, meaning that they identify as totally heterosexual. Four percent of the total sample, and 6% of young adults, picked a score of six, meaning a totally homosexual identity. Sex researcher Simon LeVay criticized this survey as unreliable because the respondents were not randomly sampled from the entire population.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In all years, it was observed that an LGB identity is most common among London residents and those aged under 35. Homosexual identity in 2016 was more than twice as common among men (1.7%) than among women (0.7%), whereas bisexual identity was more common among women (0.9%) than men (0.6%).


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The United Kingdom Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey reported over 1 million (2.0%) of the UK population aged 16 and over identified as Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual (LGB). This represented a statistically significant increase from 1.7% in 2015.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In a Survation poll on adults aged 40–70, 92.5% identified as heterosexual, 3.5% as gay, 2.4% as bisexual, 0.5% as Other and 1% did not want to reveal their sexual orientation. Those under 60 were less likely to identify as heterosexual than those aged 60–70. A gay identity was more common among men (6.1%) than women (1%), and the opposite was true of heterosexuality (men: 89.9%, women: 95%). No differences were found in the share identifying as bisexual (2.4% "versus" 2.5%). London had a higher share of middle aged or older people identifying as gay (8%) or bisexual (6%) than other parts of the country.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: According to a nationally representative study organized by Kantar TNS, 87% of British men aged 18 to 30 years identify as heterosexual, 7% as homosexual, 5% as bisexual, and 2% as other.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: An Ipsos MORI survey on behalf of BBC found that British people aged 16–22 (also called Generation Z) have lower odds to identify as exclusively straight (66%) than those who belong to the Millennial generation (71%), Generation X (85%), or Baby boomers (88%). Within Generation Z, there were several important gender differences in sexual identity: young men were more likely to identify as completely heterosexual than young women (73% v. 59%) whereas young women had higher chances to identify as non-exclusively straight (19%) and bisexual (14%) than young men (10% and 5%, respectively). There were no significant gender differences in the share identifying as predominantly or exclusively homosexual (5% for each sex), but Generation Z men were significantly more likely to refuse to disclose their sexual orientation (7%) than their female counterparts (3%). Significantly more white youth identified as exclusively homosexual (3%) than those of ethnic minority backgrounds (0%) but no other ethnic differences were found. Exclusively heterosexual youths were also less likely to describe themselves as fairly or very active in politics, but they were more likely to believe that they enjoy a better life than Millennials.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Among older adults, there were no differences in the share of men (82%) and women (80%) identifying as exclusively heterosexual. But more women than men identified as mostly heterosexual (11% v. 6%), while more men than women identified as exclusively homosexual (4% v. 2%) and mostly homosexual (2% v. 0.4%). Exclusive heterosexuals were more likely to have voted "Leave" on the 2016 UK referendum to leave the European Union, whereas mostly heterosexuals and exclusive homosexuals were overrepresented among "Remain" voters.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The Annual Population Survey reported that an estimated 2.7% of the population aged 16 or over identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The demographics of sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States have been studied in the social sciences in recent decades. A 2017 Gallup poll concluded that 4.5% of adult Americans identified as LGBT with 5.1% of women identifying as LGBT, compared with 3.9% of men. A different survey in 2016, from the Williams Institute, estimated that 0.6% of U.S. adults identify as transgender. According to the UNAIDS estimate, the United States was the country with the greatest number of men who have sex with other men. Their estimate did not include information on China.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz reported that the actual prevalence of gay men doesn't appear to vary between states in the U.S. because the percentage of Internet porn searches that are for gay male porn are nearly the same in all states, about 5 percent. Stephens-Davidowitz argues that in states where there is a social stigma against homosexuality that "many more gay men are in the closet than are out".


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In 2009, in a survey conducted by University of São Paulo in 10 capitals of Brazil, of the men 7.8% were gay and 2.6% were bisexual, for a total of 10.4%, and of the women 4.9% were lesbian and 1.4% were bisexual, for a total of 6.3 percent.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Of the men of the city of Rio de Janeiro, 19.3% were gay or bisexual. Of the women of the city of Manaus, 10.2% were lesbian and bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, a sexual orientation law think tank, released a study in April 2011 estimating based on its research that 1.7 percent of American adults identify as gay or lesbian, while another 1.8 percent identify as bisexual. Drawing on information from four national and two state-level population-based surveys, the analyses suggest that there are more than 8 million adults in the US who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual, comprising 3.5% of the adult population. Of men, 2.2% identify as gay and an additional 1.4% as bisexual. Of women, 1.1% identify as lesbian and an additional 2.2% as bisexual.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: These charts show lists of the cities and the metropolitan areas with the highest LGB population in terms of numbers of total gay, lesbian and bisexual residents, based on estimates published in 2006 by the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A 2015 Gallup poll surveying the 50 largest metro areas in the US estimated that the San Francisco metropolitan area had the highest percentage of LGBT people, at 6.2 percent.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: A significant distinction can be made between what medical statisticians call incidence and prevalence. For example, even if two studies agree on a common criterion for defining a sexual orientation, one study might regard this as applying to any person who has ever met this criterion, whereas another might only regard that person as being so if they had done so during the year of the survey. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation refers to an "enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes", as well as to "a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions." Therefore, a person can be celibate and still identify as being bisexual or homosexual based on romantic proclivities.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: According to many a source, from academic researchers to pollsters to market research groups, the population that identifies as LGBT and/or has had sexual relations with the same sex may be underestimated in surveys that employ live interviewers to collect data. Their argument is that methods stronger in anonymity and/or confidentiality, such as online questionnaires and IVR interviews, are better than more traditional survey modes at gauging the size of the non-heterosexual population.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: British researchers with the third wave of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) addressed this matter in one of their studies. Interviewers collected data on sexual behavior from a sample of over 15,000 subjects at their home. However, a portion of respondents agreed to complete an online questionnaire asking many of the same questions asked live before. The questionnaire was to be taken one to two months after the original interview. The data below were extracted from the "same group" of 202 men and 325 women who gave out information about same-sex experiences live and then successfully completed the online questionnaire later. Numbers show how answers varied between survey modes and the information is given on whether the difference between methods was significant or not.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Researchers from other countries have produced similar findings. In Poland, for example, it was found in an experiment that self-reporting same-sex attraction was twice as common using an online questionnaire as in a paper questionnaire, despite the fact that the group that answered the online questions and the one that filled out the paper form were similar on all demographic variables and on all other aspects of their sexuality. In the 90s, an experiment was made in the US where it was found that teen males were several times more likely to acknowledge same-sex experiences using a computer methodology compared to paper questionnaires.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: In addition, shifts can occur in reports of the prevalence of homosexuality. For example, the Hamburg Institute for Sexual Research conducted a survey over the sexual behavior of young people in 1970 and repeated it in 1990. Whereas in 1970 18% of the boys ages 16 and 17 reported to have had at least one same-sex sexual experience, the number had dropped to 2% by 1990.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Data from the General Social Survey shows that the percentage of Americans reporting predominantly same-sex partners remained stable between 1989 and 2014. In contrast, the percentage who reported "ever" having a same-sex partner increased. By contrast, the National Survey of Family Growth has found an increase in the share of men and women who self-report a bisexual orientation in their 2011–2013 study compared to previous surveys. Likewise, in the Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships, whose data was collected in 2012 and 2013, researchers noticed significant growth in the share of women who report bisexual orientation and attraction, and the share of men who report exclusive homosexual attraction, compared to the results of the First Australian Study of Health and Relationships, executed in 2001.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: The population that has come to be referred to as "gay" in the West is not a descriptive term that would be recognized by all men who have sex with men (MSM) as known in the rest of the world. While gay culture is increasingly open and discussed, the world of MSM consists of a diverse population that often may respond differently depending on how communications in clinical settings are framed. "Gay" is generally used to describe a homosexual sexual orientation, while "MSM" describes sexual behavior between men.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Some men who have sex with other men will not relate to the term "gay" or "homosexual", and do not regard sexual activity with other men as actual sexual activity. Instead, they view sexual relations with women as valid. This is particularly true among individuals from non-Western cultures, but it is also common in the US. Terms such as "MSM" or "same gender loving" are often used in place of the word "gay". Men in Africa and Latin America engage in sexual relationships with other men while still referring to themselves as "heterosexual", which is known as being on the "down-low".


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: There is a relative lack of information on sexual behavior in most developing countries. The limited sources that are available indicate that although homosexual self-identification might occur relatively infrequently, the prevalence of homosexual behavior is higher. These men are not taken into consideration in some sexual identity surveys which may lead to under-reporting and inaccuracies.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Reliable data on the size of the gay and lesbian population would be valuable for informing public policy. For example, demographics would help calculate the costs and benefits of domestic partnership benefits, of the impact of legalizing gay adoption. Further, knowledge of the size of the "gay and lesbian population holds promise for helping social scientists understand a wide array of important questions—questions about the general nature of labor market choices, accumulation of human capital, specialization within households, discrimination, and decisions about geographic location." More data are also needed to understand the degree of underrepresentation of sexual minorities in certain fields such as STEM, as well as the academic performance of sexual minorities more broadly.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Two of the most famous studies of the demographics of human sexual orientation were Dr. Alfred Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" (1948) and "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" (1953). These studies used a seven-point spectrum to define sexual behavior, from 0 for completely heterosexual to 6 for completely homosexual. Kinsey concluded that a small percentage of the population were to one degree or another bisexual (falling on the scale from 1 to 5). He also reported that 37% of men in the U.S. had achieved orgasm through contact with another male after adolescence and 13% of women had achieved orgasm through contact with another woman.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: His results, however, have been disputed, especially in 1954 by a team consisting of John Tukey, Frederick Mosteller and William G. Cochran, who stated much of Kinsey's work was based on convenience samples rather than random samples, and thus would have been vulnerable to bias.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: Paul Gebhard, Kinsey's former colleague and successor as director of the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research, reviewed the Kinsey data and removed what he thought were its purported contaminants. He again found that almost exactly 37% of men had engaged in homosexual activity. However, he also pointed out that Kinsey later concluded it was a mistake trying to generalize to the entire population.


title: Demographics of sexual orientation

text: More recent researchers believe that Kinsey overestimated the rate of same-sex attraction because of flaws in his sampling methods.


title: Gina McKee

text: Georgina "Gina" McKee (born 14 April 1964) is an English actress. She won the 1997 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for "Our Friends in the North" (1996), and earned subsequent nominations for "The Lost Prince" (2003) and "The Street" (2007). She also starred on television in "The Forsyte Saga" (2002) and as Caterina Sforza in "The Borgias" (2011). Her film appearances include "Notting Hill" (1999), "Phantom Thread" (2017), and "My Policeman" (2022).


title: Gina McKee

text: McKee was born in Peterlee, County Durham, the daughter of a coal miner, and grew up there and in nearby Easington and Sunderland. Her first experience of acting occurred in her final year at primary school where her teacher finished the school week off with improvisations. Seeing a poster in a shoe-shop window for a new youth drama group, McKee and her friends decided to attend, initially not seriously but later becoming enthusiastic. It led to McKee's first professional appearance, working on Tyne Tees children's series, "Quest of Eagles".


title: Gina McKee

text: From the age of 15, McKee spent three summers in London with the National Youth Theatre. After completing her A-Levels at East Durham College, she decided, with her parents' blessing, to apply to drama schools rather than art colleges. However, she was rejected by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and the Central School of Speech and Drama.


title: Gina McKee

text: McKee began her career in TV with several background roles including a part on "The Lenny Henry Show". She made her film debut in 1988 when she had a small role in "The Lair of the White Worm". In 1996, she played Mary in the BBC drama "Our Friends in the North", a role for which she won three Best Actress awards in 1997: the British Academy Television Award, the Royal Television Society Award and the Broadcasting Press Guild Award. McKee appeared in several episodes of the Chris Morris spoof current affairs show, "Brass Eye" (1997, 2001), as reporter Libby Shuss.


title: Gina McKee

text: McKee's theatre credits include Harold Pinter's "The Lover" and "The Collection" at the Comedy Theatre in London. In 2008, she appeared in the BBC drama "Fiona's Story" and a West End revival of Chekhov's "Ivanov". In 2010, she appeared as Goneril in the Donmar Warehouse revival of "King Lear", directed by Michael Grandage and starring Derek Jacobi. She received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.


title: Gina McKee

text: She played the mother of a deaf teenager in BBC TV's thriller, "The Silence", opposite Genevieve Barr. In 2018, she appeared in the highly successful BBC/Netflix drama series "Bodyguard" as Commander Anne Sampson.


title: Gina McKee

text: McKee has been married to Kez Cary since 1989; they live in East Sussex, England. She has been a vegetarian since 1982.


title: Liza Koshy

text: Elizabeth Shaila "Liza" Koshy (born March 31, 1996), is an American media personality and actress. Her main YouTube channel has amassed more than 17 million subscribers, and her two channels have a combined total of over 3 billion views. She has received four Streamy Awards, four Teen Choice Awards, and a Kids' Choice Award.


title: Liza Koshy

text: Koshy began her career on Vine in 2013, before starting a YouTube channel. She made her acting debut as Aday Walker in Tyler Perry's horror comedy film "Boo! A Madea Halloween" (2016), and went on to play The Explorer in the YouTube Premium series "Escape the Night" (2017) and Violet Adams in the Hulu drama television series "Freakish" (2016–2017). She was a contributor to the MTV television series "Total Request Live" (2017–2018).


title: Liza Koshy

text: Koshy produced and starred as the title character in the YouTube Premium comedy series "Liza on Demand" (2018–2021), which earned her several accolades, and hosted the Nickelodeon game show revival "Double Dare" (2018–2019) for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination. She starred in the Netflix dance-comedy film "Work It" (2020).


title: Liza Koshy

text: Koshy was included in the 2019 "Forbes" 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list and the "Time" 2019 list of the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet and its 2019 100 Next list.


title: Liza Koshy

text: Elizabeth Shaila Koshy was born in Houston, Texas, on March 31, 1996, the daughter of Jean Carol (née Hertzler), an American yoga instructor of German descent, and Jose Koshy, an Indian Malayali petroleum executive from Kerala. She has two older sisters. From kindergarten until fifth grade, she was placed in a dual language educational and cultural program, where she learned to speak Spanish. In 2014, after attending Lamar High School, Koshy enrolled in the University of Houston and began to study business marketing. In 2015, she left college and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a media career.


title: Liza Koshy

text: Koshy began posting comic videos on the Vine platform, in 2013, under the pseudonym "Lizzza", where she posted short comedic videos. When Vine closed in 2017, Koshy had 7 million followers. By 2016, Koshy was also becoming noted on the YouTube platform. In November 2016, just before the 2016 election, Koshy interviewed President Barack Obama on her YouTube channel to encourage voter registration. Koshy's videos feature "her loud facial expressions, quick pace, and her commitment to looking as ridiculous as possible as the joke demands. [Some of her videos] take serious issues – like anxiety, the pressure to fit in, and internet trolls – and make them accessible and engaging for her viewers." She suspended adding new videos to her main YouTube account in early 2018 as she turned to full-time acting and hosting work. She resumed posting new videos in 2019.


title: Liza Koshy

text: In 2017, Koshy became "the fastest YouTube personality to reach 10 million subscribers". As of 2021, her main YouTube channel had over 17 million subscribers and more than 2 billion views. Her second YouTube channel had more than 8 million subscribers, and her two channels had a combined total of more than 3 billion views. She had more than 18 million followers on Instagram, more than 26 million followers on TikTok more than 4 million on Facebook and more than 2.8 million on Twitter. "Time" named Koshy to its 2019 list of the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet and its 2019 100 Next list.


title: Liza Koshy

text: In 2016, Koshy starred in the Hulu original horror series "Freakish" as Violet Adams. She reprised the role in the show's second season in 2017. Also in 2016, she played the role of Aday Walker in the horror-comedy feature film, "Boo! A Madea Halloween", and starred as herself in the YouTube Premium series, "Jingle Ballin". Koshy starred as Princess Aubrey in the 2016 comedy film "FML". In 2017, she played a recurring character, The Explorer, in the YouTube Premium mystery-reality series "Escape the Night".


title: Liza Koshy

text: Koshy stars in and co-produces a YouTube Premium situation comedy series, "Liza on Demand", which premiered in June 2018, "following the chaotic misadventures of the eponymous character" as she works to become an "elite tasker" doing odd jobs for pay. A reviewer for the "Los Angeles Times" wrote: "The first episode ... is not bad. Yet it's also ordinary and a little stiff. … But the second ... is better ... and shows off Koshy to good effect, some effective physical comedy included. It made me laugh, anyway." Season 2 premiered in September 2019. Alexis Gunderson of "Paste" wrote in 2019: ""Liza on Demand" a truly excellent comedy." In November 2018, Koshy voiced the character Owl in "Crow: The Legend", an animated virtual-reality short film written and directed by Eric Darnell, starring John Legend. The film premiered on the Liza Koshy Too YouTube channel and Oculus VR on November 15, 2018. She returned to "Escape the Night" in 2019. She co-starred in the Netflix dance-comedy film "Work It" (2020). A review in "The New York Times" stated: "Both Koshy and [Jordan] Fisher are accomplished professional dancers, and the movie doesn't skimp on showcasing their gifts." Koshy voiced Zipp Storm in the 2021 Netflix film "".


title: Liza Koshy

text: Koshy hosted the live preshow at the 2017 Golden Globes Awards, which received 2.7 million live viewers on Twitter – a record for the medium. She also hosted Nigel Lythgoe's series "Every Single Step" and was "the only social entertainer chosen to promote the 2016 MTV Movie Awards." She was one of the hosts on "Total Request Live" on MTV from 2017 to 2018 and served as a producer and developer of content for MTV. Koshy was the first "digital star" interviewed for "Vogue" magazine's "73 Questions" web series. Koshy conducted interviews of the celebrities attending the 2018 and 2019 Met Galas on behalf of "Vogue". She hosted the revival of the Nickelodeon game show "Double Dare" from June 2018 to December 2019. In 2020, Koshy hosted the Quibi dance competition show "Floored".


title: Liza Koshy

text: Her online advertisements for Beats Electronics draw four times more viewers than those of other celebrities. Koshy collaborates with The Giving Keys, a jewelry company that employs and supports the formerly homeless population, on a necklace collection. She is a co-chair of "When We All Vote", a nonpartisan, nonprofit group dedicated to increasing voter participation. She also advertises Beyond Meat.


title: Liza Koshy

text: "Teen Vogue" named Koshy to its 2016 list of "The 7 Female Comedians You Need to Know". "The Hollywood Reporter" included Koshy in its 2017 list of "15 Rising Crossover Stars". "The Washington Post" cited Koshy as one of the "funny women...at the top of their game today [who] girls get to study" as models for comedy and empowerment. She is a member of the 2019 "Forbes" 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list.


title: Liza Koshy

text: John Jurgensen of "The Wall Street Journal" described Koshy's appeal as follows: "Her comedy is heavy on self-deprecation, slapstick and wordplay, more goofy than snarky. ... One reason her sketches work for advertisers is the replay factor, [squeezing] in dozens of puns and double meanings, in part to encourage easily distracted viewers to re-watch. ... Koshy has proven to be safe territory for established entertainment companies and advertisers who have fled from edgier online content". Alexis Gunderson of "Paste" compared Koshy to Lucille Ball and calls her a "physical comedy "wunderkind"" and "a tiny magnetic goofball".


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Peter Jeremy William Huggins (3 November 1933 – 12 September 1995), known professionally as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor. He played fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series from 1984 to 1994 in all 41 episodes. His career spanned from stage, to television and film, to Shakespeare and musical theatre. He also played the smitten Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 Warner Bros. production of "My Fair Lady".


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Jeremy Brett was born Peter Jeremy William Huggins at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, then in Warwickshire. His birthdate was actually 3 November 1933, but it has also been stated as December 1933 or 1935, according to many sources. He was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry William Huggins, DSO, MC, DL (1890–1965), an Army officer, and Elizabeth Edith Cadbury Butler (1903–1959; of the confectionery dynasty). He had three older brothers: John, Patrick and Michael. The actor Martin Clunes is his nephew (or, according to other sources, either his cousin or cousin, once removed). Educated at Eton College, he claimed to have been an "academic disaster", attributing his learning difficulties to dyslexia. Brett belonged to the Woodmen of Arden, an archery club established in 1785. His father and brothers were also members.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Although he eventually developed precisely honed diction, he was born with "rhotacism", a speech impediment which prevented him from pronouncing the "R" sound correctly. He underwent corrective surgery as a teenager and followed it with years of practising.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: However, while at Eton he excelled at singing and was a member of the college choir. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall in London, graduating in 1954, but his father had demanded that he change his name for the sake of family honour, so he took his stage name from the label of his first suit, "Brett & Co."


title: Jeremy Brett

text: In 1959, while Brett was playing Hamlet, his mother was killed in a car crash in the Welsh mountains. This had a tremendous effect on Brett. Later in life, he spoke about the accident, its impact on him and consequently his performance; "my mother had been killed savagely in a car accident in 1959, and I was very angry about that, because my son, when she was killed, was only three months old. There was anger—it was interesting ... there was anger in me. And I think that came through. I felt cheated—I felt my mother had been cheated—the rage of that came through". He could not believe the circumstances and channelled his anger into his performance.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Brett made his professional acting debut in rep at the Library Theatre in Manchester in 1954, and his London stage debut with the Old Vic company in "Troilus and Cressida" in 1956. He made his first appearance in a major film with "War and Peace" (1956), which starred Audrey Hepburn.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Some of his appearances were in classical comedic roles, such as Captain Absolute in a television version of "The Rivals" (1970) and Bassanio in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" (1970) in a National Theatre Company production directed by Jonathan Miller, which also featured Laurence Olivier (as Shylock) and Joan Plowright (as Portia). This was adapted for television in 1973 with the same three leads. Brett joked that, as an actor, he was rarely allowed into the 20th century and "never" into the present day. He did, though, appear in a few contemporary guest roles, in a couple of the ITC series such as "The Baron" (1967) and "The Champions" (1969), wherein he was cast as swarthy, smooth villains. Brett also appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" ("Of Guilt, Models and Murder", 1977) and starred as Maxim in the 1979 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" opposite Joanna David.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Jeremy Brett's final, posthumous film appearance was an uncredited bit part as the artist's father in "Moll Flanders", a 1996 Hollywood feature film starring Robin Wright Penn in the title role. The film (not to be confused with the 1996 ITV adaptation starring Alex Kingston) was released nearly a year after Brett's death.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Although Brett appeared in many different roles during his 40-year career, he is best remembered for his performance as Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", a series of Granada Television films made between 1984 and 1994. These were adapted by John Hawkesworth and other writers from the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Even though he reportedly feared being typecast, Brett appeared in 41 episodes of the Granada series, alongside David Burke and, latterly, Edward Hardwicke as Doctor Watson. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke appeared on stage in 1988 and 1989 in "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes" directed by Patrick Garland.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: After taking on the demanding role ("Holmes is the hardest part I have ever played—harder than Hamlet or Macbeth") Brett made few other acting appearances, and he is now widely considered to be the definitive Holmes of his era, just as Basil Rathbone was at the beginning of the 1940s and William Gillette during the first third of the 20th century. Brett had previously played Doctor Watson on stage opposite Charlton Heston as Holmes in the 1980 Los Angeles production of "The Crucifer of Blood", making him one of only a small number of actors to play both Holmes and Watson professionally.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Brett had been approached in February 1982 by Granada Television to play Holmes. The idea was to make a totally authentic and faithful adaptation of the character's best cases. Eventually Brett accepted the role. He wanted to be the best Sherlock Holmes the world had ever seen. He conducted extensive research on the great detective and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, and was very attentive to discrepancies between the scripts he had been given and Conan Doyle's original stories. One of Brett's dearest possessions on the set was his 77-page "Baker Street File" on everything from Holmes' mannerisms to his eating and drinking habits. Brett once explained that "some actors are becomers—they try to become their characters. When it works, the actor is like a sponge, squeezing himself dry to remove his own personality, then absorbing the character's like a liquid".


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Brett was obsessed with bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes's rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, "he would leap over the furniture or jump onto the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his personal safety."


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Holmes's obsessive and depressive personality fascinated and frightened Brett. In many ways Holmes's personality resembled the actor's own, with outbursts of passionate energy followed by periods of lethargy. It became difficult for him to let go of Holmes after work. He had always been told that the only way for an actor to stay sane was for him to leave his part behind at the end of the day, but Brett started dreaming about Holmes, and the dreams turned into nightmares. Brett began to refer to Holmes as "You Know Who" or simply "HIM": "Watson describes You Know Who as a mind without a heart, which is hard to play. Hard to become. So what I have done is invent an inner life". Brett invented an imaginary life of Holmes to fill the hollowness of Holmes's "missing heart", his empty emotional life. He imagined: "... what You Know Who's nanny looked like. She was covered in starch. I don't think he saw his mother until he was about eight years old ..." etc.While the other actors disappeared to the canteen for lunch, Brett would sit alone on the set reading the script, looking at every nuance, reading Holmes in the weekends and on his holidays."Some actors fear if they play Sherlock Holmes for a very long run the character will steal their soul, leave no corner for the original inhabitant", he once said, but: "Holmes has become the dark side of the moon for me. He is moody and solitary and underneath I am really sociable and gregarious. It has all got too dangerous".


title: Jeremy Brett

text: A theatrical adaptation, "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes", by Brett's friend, playwright Jeremy Paul, ran at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End with Brett and Edward Hardwicke during 1988 and 1989; the production subsequently toured.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Brett's performance is regarded by many critics to have been their favourite rendition of Sherlock Holmes.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: On 24 May 1958, Brett married the actress Anna Massey (daughter of actor Raymond Massey). Their son, David Huggins, born in 1959, is a British cartoonist, illustrator, and novelist. Brett and Massey divorced on 22 November 1962 after she claimed that he had left her for a man. In 1976, Brett married Joan Sullivan Wilson, who died of cancer in July 1985. Brett was in a romantic relationship with the actor Gary Bond, who died exactly one month after Brett. In the late 1970s, Brett was involved with Paul Shenar.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: In the latter part of 1986, Brett exhibited wild mood swings that alarmed his family and friends, who persuaded him to seek diagnosis and treatment for manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder. Brett was prescribed lithium tablets to fight this condition. He suspected that he would never be cured, and would have to live with his malady, look for the signs of his disorder, and then deal with it. He wanted to return to work, and to play Holmes again.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: The first episode to be produced after his discharge was a two-hour adaptation of "The Sign of Four" in 1987. From then on, the changes in Brett's appearance and behaviour slowly became more noticeable as the series developed. One of the side effects of the lithium tablets was fluid retention; Brett was putting on weight and retaining water. The drugs were also slowing him down. According to Edward Hardwicke, Brett smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day, which "didn't help his health." He also had heart troubles. His heart was twice the normal size; he had difficulties breathing and needed an oxygen mask on the set. "But, darlings, the show must go on", was his only comment.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: During the final decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the "Sherlock Holmes" series. At one point, during the final series, Brett collapsed on set. During his last years, he discussed the illness candidly, encouraging people to recognise its symptoms and seek help.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Brett died on 12 September 1995 at his home in Clapham, London, from heart failure. His heart valves had been scarred by rheumatic fever contracted as a child, and on top of this he was a heavy smoker throughout his life. His body was cremated.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: One of his elder brothers, John, who was a minister, spoke at his youngest brother's memorial service on 29 November 1995.


title: Jeremy Brett

text: Mel Gussow wrote in an obituary for "The New York Times", "Mr. Brett was regarded as the quintessential Holmes: breathtakingly analytical, given to outrageous disguises and the blackest moods and relentless in his enthusiasm for solving the most intricate crimes."


title: Sniper

text: A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision rifles and high-magnification optics, and often also serve as scouts/observers feeding tactical information back to their units or command headquarters.


title: Sniper

text: In addition to long-range and high-grade marksmanship, military snipers are trained in a variety of special operation techniques: detection, stalking, target range estimation methods, camouflage, tracking, bushcraft, field craft, infiltration, special reconnaissance and observation, surveillance and target acquisition.


title: Sniper

text: The name "sniper" comes from the verb "to snipe", which originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India in reference to shooting snipes, a wader that was considered an extremely challenging game bird for hunters due to its alertness, camouflaging color and erratic flight behavior. Snipe hunters therefore needed to be stealthy in addition to being good trackers and marksmen. In the 18th century, letters sent home by English officers in India referred to a day's rough shooting as "going sniping", as it took a skilled flintlock sportsman a lot of patience and endurance to wing-shoot a snipe in flight. Accomplishing such a shot was regarded as exceptional, and inevitably during the late 18th century, the term "snipe shooting" was simplified to "sniping". This evolved to the agent noun "sniper", first appearing by the 1820s. The term "sniper" was first attested militarily in 1824, becoming common place in the First World War.


title: Sniper

text: The older term "sharpshooter" comes from the calque of German word "Scharfschütze", in use by British newspapers as early as 1801. The word alludes to good marksmanship, itself descendent of the shooting competitions ("Schützenfeste") that took place throughout the year in Munich in the 15th century. Small companies of shooters ("Schützenfähnlein") from the German states and Swiss cantons would form teams of "Scharfschützen" for such popular competitions; proudly carrying flags depicting a crossbow on one side and a target musket on the other. The earliest known date for the creation of a shooting club formed specifically for the use of firearms comes from Lucerne, Switzerland, where one club has a charter dating from 1466. During the American Civil War, Confederate marksmen equipped with the imported Whitworth rifles were known as the Whitworth Sharpshooters.


title: Sniper

text: Snipers are also called "hunters" in many languages, due to the nature of the craft (with the hunting horn also being a symbol of marksmanship), being called "Caçadores", "Chasseurs" and "Jägers". Other words for sniper include "franc-tiréur", "tiréur d'élite" and "atirador de escol".


title: Sniper

text: Different countries use different military doctrines regarding snipers in military units, settings, and tactics.


title: Sniper

text: Generally, a sniper's primary function in modern warfare is to provide detailed surveillance from a concealed position and, if necessary, to reduce the enemy's combat ability by neutralizing high-value targets (especially officers and other key personnel) and in the process pinning down and demoralizing the enemy. Typical sniper missions include managing intelligence information they gather during reconnaissance, target acquisition and impact feedback for air strikes and artillery, assisting employed combat force with accurate fire support and counter-sniper tactics, killing enemy commanders, selecting targets of opportunity, and even destruction of military equipment, which tend to require use of anti-materiel rifles in the larger calibers such as the .50 BMG, like the Barrett M82, McMillan Tac-50, and Denel NTW-20.


title: Sniper

text: Soviet- and Russian-derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers. Snipers have increasingly been demonstrated as useful by US and UK forces in the recent Iraq campaign in a fire support role to cover the movement of infantry, especially in urban areas.


title: Sniper

text: Military snipers from the US, UK and other countries that adopt their military doctrine are typically deployed in two-man sniper teams consisting of a shooter and a spotter. A common practice is for a shooter and a spotter to take turns to avoid eye fatigue. In most recent combat operations occurring in large densely populated towns, such as Fallujah, Iraq, two teams would be deployed together to increase their security and effectiveness in an urban environment. A sniper team would be armed with a long-range weapon and a rapid-firing shorter-ranged weapon in case of close quarter combat.


title: Sniper

text: The German doctrine of largely independent snipers and emphasis on concealment, developed during the Second World War, has been most influential on modern sniper tactics, and is currently used throughout Western militaries (examples are specialized camouflage clothing, concealment in terrain and emphasis on coup d'œil).


title: Sniper

text: Sniper rifles are classified as crew-served in the United States military. A sniper team (or sniper cell) consists of a combination of at least one primary weapon operator, (ie: the shooter), with other support personnel and force protection elements, such as a "spotter" or a "flanker". Within the "Table of Organization and Equipment" for both the United States Army and Marine Corps, the shooter does not operate alone, but has a backup shooter trained to fulfill multiple roles in addition to being sniper-qualified in the operation of the main weapon.


title: Sniper

text: The shooter focuses mainly on firing the shot, while the spotter assists in observation of targets, accounts for atmospheric conditions and handles ancillary tasks as immediate security of their location, communication with other parties (e.g. directing artillery fire and close air support). A flanker is an extra teammate who is tasked to act as a sentry observing areas not immediately visible to the sniper and spotter, assisting with the team's rear security and perimeter defense, and therefore are usually armed with a faster-firing weapon such as an assault rifle, battle rifle or designated marksman rifle. Both the spotter and flanker carry additional ammunition and associated equipment.


title: Sniper

text: The spotter is responsible for detecting, identifying and assigning priority of targets for the shooter, as well as assessing the outcome of the shot. Using a spotting scope and/or a rangefinder, the spotter will predict the external ballistics and read the wind speed using an anemometer or physical indicators like the mirage caused by ground heat. Also, in conjunction with the shooter, the spotter will calculate the distance, shooting angle (slant range), mil-related correction, interference by atmospheric factors and the required leads for moving targets. It is not unusual for the spotter to be equipped with a ballistic table, a notebook or a tablet computer specifically for performing these calculations.


title: Sniper

text: Law enforcement snipers, commonly called police snipers, and military snipers differ in many ways, including their areas of operation and tactics. A police sharpshooter is part of a police operation and usually takes part in relatively short missions. Police forces typically deploy such sharpshooters in hostage scenarios. This differs from a military sniper, who operates as part of a larger army, engaged in warfare. Sometimes as part of a SWAT team, police snipers are deployed alongside negotiators and an assault team trained for close quarters combat. As policemen, they are trained to shoot only as a last resort, when there is a direct threat to life; the police sharpshooter has a well-known rule: "Be prepared to take a life to save a life." Police snipers typically operate at much shorter ranges than military snipers, generally under and sometimes even less than . Both types of snipers do make difficult shots under pressure, and often perform one-shot kills.


title: Sniper

text: Police units that are unequipped for tactical operations may rely on a specialized SWAT team, which may have a dedicated sniper. Some police sniper operations begin with military assistance. Police snipers placed in vantage points, such as high buildings, can provide security for events. In one high-profile incident commonly referred to as "The Shot Seen Around the World" due to going viral online, Mike Plumb, a SWAT sniper in Columbus, Ohio, prevented a suicide by shooting a revolver out of the individual's hand, leaving him unharmed.


title: Sniper

text: The need for specialized training for police sharpshooters was made apparent in 1972 during the Munich massacre when the German police could not deploy specialized personnel or equipment during the standoff at the airport in the closing phase of the crisis, and consequently all of the Israeli hostages were killed. While the German army did have snipers in 1972, the use of army snipers in the scenario was impossible due to the German constitution's explicit prohibition of the use of the military in domestic matters. This lack of trained snipers who could be used in civilian roles was later addressed with the founding of the specialized police counter-terrorist unit GSG 9.


title: Sniper

text: The longest confirmed sniper kill in combat was achieved by an undisclosed member of the Canadian JTF2 special forces in June 2017 at a distance of .


title: Sniper

text: The previous record holder was Craig Harrison, a Corporal of Horse (CoH) in the Blues and Royals RHG/D of the British Army. In November 2009, Harrison struck two Taliban machine gunners consecutively south of Musa Qala in Helmand Province in Afghanistan at a range of or 1.54 miles using a L115A3 Long Range Rifle.


title: Sniper

text: The QTU Lapua external ballistics software, using continuous doppler drag coefficient (C) data provided by Lapua, predicts that such shots traveling would likely have struck their targets after nearly 6.0 seconds of flight time, having lost 93% of their kinetic energy, retaining of their original velocity, and having dropped or 2.8° from the original bore line. Due to the extreme distances and travel time involved, even a light cross-breeze of would have diverted such shots off target, which would have required compensation.


title: Sniper

text: The calculation assumes a "flat-fire scenario" (a situation where the shooting and target positions are at equal elevation), using British military custom high-pressure .338 Lapua Magnum cartridges, loaded with 16.2 g (250 gr) Lapua LockBase B408 bullets, fired at 936 m/s (3,071 ft/s) muzzle velocity under the following on-site (average) atmospheric conditions: barometric pressure: at sea-level equivalent or on-site, humidity: 25.9%, and temperature: in the region for November 2009, resulting in an air density ρ = 1.0854 kg/m at the elevation of Musa Qala. Harrison mentions in reports that the environmental conditions were perfect for long range shooting, "... no wind, mild weather, clear visibility." In a BBC interview, Harrison reported it took about nine shots for him and his spotter to initially range the target successfully.


title: Sniper

text: Before the development of rifling, firearms were smoothbore and inaccurate over long distance. Barrel rifling was invented at the end of the fifteenth century, but was only employed in large cannons. Over time, rifling, along with other gunnery advances, has increased the performance of modern firearms.


title: Sniper

text: Early forms of sniping or marksmanship were used during the American Revolutionary War. For instance in 1777 at the Battles of Saratoga, the colonists hid in the trees and used early model rifles to shoot British officers. Most notably, Timothy Murphy shot and killed General Simon Fraser of Balnain on 7 October 1777 at a distance of about 400 yards. During the Battle of Brandywine, Capt. Patrick Ferguson had a tall, distinguished American officer in his rifle's iron sights. Ferguson did not take the shot, as the officer had his back to Ferguson; only later did Ferguson learn that George Washington had been on the battlefield that day.


title: Sniper

text: A special unit of marksmen was established during the Napoleonic Wars in the British Army. While most troops at that time used inaccurate smoothbore muskets, the British "Green Jackets" (named for their distinctive green uniforms) used the famous Baker rifle. Through the combination of a leather wad and tight grooves on the inside of the barrel (rifling), this weapon was far more accurate, though slower to load. These Riflemen were the elite of the British Army, and served at the forefront of any engagement, most often in skirmish formation, scouting out and delaying the enemy.


title: Sniper

text: The term, "sharp shooter" was in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. In the "Edinburgh Advertiser", 23 June 1801, can be found the following quote in a piece about the North British Militia; "This Regiment has several Field Pieces, and two companies of Sharp Shooters, which are very necessary in the modern Stile of War". The term appears even earlier, around 1781, in Continental Europe, translated from the German Scharfschütze.


title: Sniper

text: Scouts in the Ashanti army were made up of professional hunters who used their skill as marksmen to snipe at advancing enemy forces in response to detection by the enemy. They executed this often from a perch high in trees.


title: Sniper

text: The Whitworth rifle was arguably the first long-range sniper rifle in the world. A muzzleloader designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth, a prominent British engineer, it used polygonal rifling instead, which meant that the projectile did not have to bite into grooves as was done with conventional rifling. The Whitworth rifle was far more accurate than the Pattern 1853 Enfield, which had shown some weaknesses during the recent Crimean War. At trials in 1857 which tested the accuracy and range of both weapons, Whitworth's design outperformed the Enfield at a rate of about three to one. The Whitworth rifle was capable of hitting the target at a range of 2,000 yards, whereas the Enfield could only manage it at 1,400 yards.


title: Sniper

text: During the Crimean War, the first optical sights were designed to fit onto rifles. Much of this pioneering work was the brainchild of Colonel D. Davidson, using optical sights produced by Chance Brothers of Birmingham. This allowed a marksman to observe and target objects more accurately at a greater distance than ever before. The telescopic sight, or scope, was originally fixed and could not be adjusted, which therefore limited its range.