The question of whether gays and lesbians constitute a true minority group and deserve protected class status is a complicated social question that likely will be debated for the rest of this century. When Whitam launched his sexual orientation research more than 20 years ago, he sought specific answers. I wanted to know if homosexuals exist in all societies. His quest for answers has led him to Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and throughout the United States. It's highly probable that a small group of homosexual people exist in all societies and produce the same kind of continuum.
Lesbians also exist in all societies.
They range from the ultramasculine to the very feminine. Whitam and other researchers know that homosexuals have existed in all societies for thousands of years. Records from the Brazilian and Portuguese Inquisitions contain evidence that transvestite homosexuals lived in Brazil's colonial capitol of Salvador during the 1600s. The ASU sociologist says that many cultures accept homosexuality. But this is not entirely the case in the United States.