Slightly more than 600 of the 3,200 questionnaires distributed were returned by the deadline, a rate o about 20%; two come back blank, and two were photocopies of the original survey, which we did not tabulate, leaving 598 for the purposes of analysis. Respondents came from every college and school of The University of Arizona, as well as the Administration, Library, Alumni Association, Facilities Management, and Parking & Transportation (see Appendix 2 for a breakdown). A little over 80% listed their ethnic identification as non-Hispanic white, with the remainder identifying themselves as Native American, Asian American, African American, and Hispanic. About 60% were female, forty percent male. Nearly half the respondents were in classified staff positions (46%), just under a quarter were faculty (22%), and substantial numbers were professional staff (13%) or graduate teaching assistants (16%). The sample included a broad distribution of for the length of employment at the UA, ranging from less than one year to over twenty years. The age range was also broad, though the bulk of respondents (83%) reported being between 25 and 54 years old.

Thirty-four, or about 6%, of the respondents identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.1 This is low relative to the general population estimates of 10% (Kinsey et al., 1948, 1953)2, but our sample was not particularly large, and since an addition 3% marked "non-identified" or declined to answer, the true number of GLB respondents may be somewhat higher.

Attitudes and Perceptions - Acceptance

Heterosexuals comprised 91% of our sample. Asked directly about their acceptance of those in the GLB group on a scale of 1 - 10 (1=not at all;10=very much), sixty percent placed themselves in the 8 to 10 range of high acceptance--an encouragingly high figure; less than 10% placed themselves in the low acceptance range of between 1 and 3.

Women were more likely than men to express a high level of acceptance (66% vs. 56%) and less likely to place themselves in the low-acceptance category (6% vs. 16%), a common finding in surveys of this sort. Women are simply less threatened by individuals whose sexual orientation is different from theirs. Their higher level of acceptance may also reflect a feeling of kinship by some women as a result of the well-documented discrimination may have faced professionally and personally. Respondents' employment status, on the other hand, had no significant impact on the acceptance scale, with no major differences surfacing among faculty, staff, and graduate students.

Given the highly-publicized negative views of some religious groups on the topic of homosexuality, we included one direct question about his possible source of our respondents' attitudes: "Does your religion influence your views on homosexuality?" Seventeen percent of the respondents marked "yes." However, religion did not appear to influence people toward negative views only. Just over a quarter (28%) of those who said their religion was influential placed themselves at the high end; the remainder fell somewhere in the middle.

If you have comments or suggestions, email Equity Chair, Noel Matkin at matkin@ccit.arizona.edu