For this reason, many researchers have recruited gay and lesbian people at bars, although this is hardly a representative sample of the community, and is likely a less-healthy segment of the whole. It is very difficult, and takes a great deal of work, to achieve a sample of the sexual minority community that is truly random and representative. Most studies have relied on less random samples that are easier to find. Only a few of these studies are large enough to contain subsets of sexual minorities from which conclusions can be drawn about their health. Sampling and studying sensitive topic areas.
Sexual minorities experience many forms of discrimination.
Furthermore, homosexual behaviors are criminal in many states in the United States. This makes it difficult and time-consuming to construct a study in which participants feel safe talking about personal feelings and behaviors. The sensitive nature of studying this population affects all levels of the research, including what questions will be asked, who will ask them, where the research will take place, and how and where the study will be published. This concern has been present in the minds of the writers of the materials on this website. Although in 1974, psychiatrists removed homosexuality from the list of mental health illnesses, sexual minority people have long been considered to be mentally and physically unhealthy by some.