A New Study Says This State Is the Gayest!

The gayest state in America might not be the one you expect according to new research from by the University of California, Los Angeles.

As reported by Newsweek, data released by the UCLA's Williams Institute found that Kentucky is the gayest state in America by percentage of the population.

click here to read the report.

The Williams Institute found that 5.6 percent of Americans identify as LGBT, about 14 million people, with 36.9% of that population living in the South.

To clarify sexual orientation, survey respondents were asked to "best represent" themselves using options such as: "Gay or lesbian; Straight, that is, not gay; Bisexual; Something else; I don't know the answer." There was also an option to refuse to answer the question.

According to the Williams Institute, Kentucky had the highest percentage of LGBT individuals per state, with 10.5 percent of the adult population identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender.

Also in the overall top spot from Kentucky is the District of Columbia which, though technically not a state, had the highest percentage of LGBT people at 14.3 percent.

West Virginia and Mississippi have the lowest percentages of LBGT adults, with 4.1 percent of people in each state identifying that way, according to the study.

Other states with low percentages included North Carolina (4.4 percent), Iowa (4.7 percent), Illinois (4.5 percent) and Alabama (4.6 percent).

The state with the highest number of LGBT adults in total is California, with 1.46 million, according to UCLA; Texas placed second with 1.07 million gay or trans people out of a population of roughly 29.3 million.

Image: Old engraved illustration of seal of Kentucky US State, United States of America (USA) - stock photo/Getty Images.