Kim Painter

Special for USA TODAY

A total of 2.3% of U.S. adults said they were gay, lesbian or bisexual in the largest federal government survey ever to ask about sexual orientation.

That number is a bit lower than the 3% to 4% found in some other recent surveys, including a Gallup Poll from 2012 — but some of those studies encompassed broader groups, including transsexuals. In the new survey of 34,557 adults, released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an additional 1.1% said they were "something else," didn't know or refused to answer.

The aim of the new report is not just to take another look at the size of the gay, lesbian and bisexual population, but to assess its health.

There, researchers found mixed results. They found gays, lesbians and bisexuals as a whole are more likely than straight people to smoke and binge drink and just as likely to exercise.

Bisexuals experience more psychological distress than straight people do, the survey found. It also found that gay men are less likely than straight men to be obese, more likely to get tested for HIV and more likely to get flu shots.

David Mariner, executive director of the Washington, D.C., Center for the LGBT Community, said he believes the gay percentage in the CDC study might be low.

He said differences can come from how questions are asked, as well as the ages of participants. Mariner noted that in another CDC study that focused on youth in the Washington area, 15.3% of high school respondents identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual. He said young people can be more comfortable with their sexuality and more likely to report being gay, lesbian or bisexual.

"I think regardless of whether the number is this number or higher, we're still talking about millions of Americans that are disproportionately affected by a lot of health indicators," Mariner said.

Contributing: Cogan Schneier



