Go back and check out what I actually wrote. I did not try to convince anyone of any percentage. I simply refered to a poll that was done. Later, I discussed where I had read about that poll. The only distraction here was me letting you lead me down this topic of homosexuality...and for whatever reason I cannot imagine. Why did you even broach the topic? My guess is that other economic issues of the conservative plank were too hard to discuss from your fairly narrow-minded family-values-only perspective and you knew that you'd expose yourself as a quasi socialist. Instead, you exposed yourself as someone with a peculiar interest into steering discussions into the realm of homosexuality.
I'll back off the 8% thing. It makes no difference to me one way or the other. I did read that, though. If that bothers you, tough shit.
Here's something that probably closer to the truth. Assuming an Armed Force that was 2.6 million, the 65,000 gay and lesbian servicemen and servicewomen would be roughly 2.5%
Although the 2.5% claim blows away what you have trying to push, it is still too much and here is what Elaine Donnely wrote about in Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy Public.
i. The Urban Institute
In September 2004, the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan social policy and research organization, issued a report estimating that approximately 65,000 gay personnel are now serving in the U.S. military, and another one million gays and lesbians are veterans.528 Activists frequently cite this report when advocating repeal of the 1993 homosexual conduct law529 — sometimes touting the data as if it is brand new and “solid.”530
The document, however, reveals questionable methodology, based on presumptions about the percentage of homosexuals in the general population [*pg 924] and about the sexuality of persons interviewed by the census.531 The speculative claim that three percent of women and four percent of men are homosexual was applied to 2000 census data on the number of persons of the same sex living in the same household — one of whom is a “veteran.”532 Citing mathematical computations, the study speculated that household-mates of the same sex are homosexual.533 Next came the leaping conclusion that sixty-five thousand gay men and lesbians are serving or used to be in the military. This number is frequently trumpeted by gay activists and like-minded journalists, who overlook or fail to mention the fact that the census does not ask questions about sexual orientation or behavior. All estimates are based on sheer speculation, dressed up with a public relations spin.
The Urban Institute report, which was prepared in consultation with the activist Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is more like an urban legend than a serious piece of scholarship.