From: tooka@train.EBay.Sun.COM ()
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Gay Asians
Date: 23 Jul 1992 22:27:33 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: tooka@train.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: train.ebay.sun.com

Arthur,

An IQ test is a much more controlled set of circumstances to test intelligence
and thus can produce valid, telling results about the test participants' mental
abilities. IQ tests should NOT be compared to surveys about sexual preference
among a specific ethnic group.

A survey which asks "Are you gay?" and "Are you Asian?" COULD, as you suggest,
produce a number of genuine and palpable data--provided the sample population
was representative and the surveys were controlled (i.e. anonymous/confidential)
and produce honest replies from participants (i.e. Individuals interviewed
were not lying about being gay due to fear for anonymity)

The fact that fewer asians participate in the gay parade could be due to
social temperament of Asian gays (e.g. Asian gays could due to familial pressures
be less disposed to displaying their gayness) than the fact that there are
fewer Asian gays out there. "Being Asian in the gay parade" is not an indicator
of being gay, which you seem to suggest.

Just so that you don't get carried away with the validity of surveys--think
about the "scientific" surveys done in the California governor's race ten
years ago between the black candidate, Tom Bradley, and white candidate,
Deukmejian.

The polls showed Bradley ahead of Deukmejian by several points. Did that mean
Californians were going to vote in the state's first African-American governor?

No--Bradley lost by several percentage points. But what about the SURVEYS?
It turned out--many survey participants didn't admit to pollsters they would
not vote for Bradley (possibly to avoid appearing racist? Who knows.) But the
survey's validity was compromised by that old gremlin--the survey participant's
desire for privacy.

Now do you think that a survey which is intended to gauge how many gay Asians
there are would be accurate if the way this surveyed people was to ask:

1. Are you asian?  
2. Are you gay? 
3. Do you test positive for the AIDS virus?
4. Do you participate in the Gay Pride Parade?

My initial reaction to such questions would be "Why are you asking me these
personal questions?", you would lose my confidence, and I would not give
sincere answers and might definitely skew your survey data.

> Is it a total waste of time to track down surveys that pin down the
> number of gay ASians since nobody will believe anything that is
> politically incorect?

No--but surveys are NOT the last word especially when it comes to eliciting data
regarding people's private lives or sexuality.

>I challenge anybody to present ANY data that supports the null
>hypothesis that Asians are just as prevelant among gays. Not data
>that shows some Asians are gay. The SAME proporiton.

Well maybe there isn't any proof positive that gayness is equally prevalent
among Asians than other groups. Maybe the educated answer is really: We don't
really know. No one said there must be a certain percentage. But the way you
are trying to arrive at a number--e.g. counting Asians in the gay parade, perusing
ads, HIV surveys --reflects poor reasoning and argumentative abilities. (Don't
bother applying to Harvard Law School--get my drift. (You may be an engineer but
you demonstrate unsound reasoning with regard to human nature and scientific polling.
Maybe you should stick to what you are good at--designing circuits.)

W. S. O.

P.S. I could not resist jabbing at your ignorance because under your veiled
reasoning I sense outright bigotry.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american