ROCHESTER, N.Y. (March 26, 2007)

In a recent national survey by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive®, nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of heterosexual adults say they would not change their feelings toward a ‘favorite’ male professional athlete if the athlete revealed he is gay. This represents an increase from 66 percent in August 2002, when heterosexual adults were asked the same survey question.

In contrast, when asked how they think ‘other sports fans would feel’ toward an openly gay sports figure, 72 percent believe that ‘others’ would have less favorable opinions. This measure, however, has decreased from 2002, when nearly 80 percent revealed that they felt ‘others’ would have a less favorable opinion.

These are some of the highlights of a nationwide survey of 2,510 U.S. adults conducted online between March 6 and 16, 2007 by Harris Interactive, a worldwide market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the GLBT market.

”Openly gay and lesbian athletes have become far more visible in the nation’s major media with the ’coming out’ of WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes and the very recent publication of the New York Times best-seller “Man in the Middle” by former NBA pro, John Amaechi,” said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications. “Not only does public acceptance of gay athletes seem to be on the rise, but there’s slight progress in feelings that others are becoming more accepting as well.”

Methodology

This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive in collaboration with Witeck-Combs Communications within the United States between March 6 and 14, 2007 among 2,510 adults (aged 18 and over) of whom 2,037 indicated they are heterosexual. Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, nonresponse (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite “margin of error” for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,510 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/-2 percentage points. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
EDITOR / REPORTER’S NOTE: For more information and for tables that accompany the news release please visit http://www.witeckcombs.com/news/client_press_releases.html 

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This press release was provided by http://www.witeckcombs.com and can be downloaded in its entirety as a PDF at http://www.witeckcombs.com/news/releases/20070326_gay_athletes.pdf