timated that some 10 percent of the general population is homosexual, with up to 18 percent considered equally heterosexual and homosexual (Kinsey, et al. 1948; 1953). Some commentators, noting that Kinsey's figures were gathered during the 1940s and 1950s, estimate the percentages to be much higher (Leppo & Lustgraaf 1988). Kleinberg (1986) and Leppo & Lustgraaf (1988) suggest that the estimate that some 11.5 million women, or 10 percent of the female population, are homosexual, is conservative. Scott cites the Kinsey Reports' demonstration of "a continuum, not a dichotomy, between homosexual and heterosexual inclinations" among surveyed men. In particular, Scott notes Kinsey's reporting that "more than half had had an emotional or physical sexual response to another man" (1988, p. 22).
To the degree the figures for the representation of homosexuals in the population as a whole also obtain in the college population, there exist unique support and service needs among undergraduate lesbians and gays, a measurable percentage of the college population. In this regard, Schultz suggests that the 160-member Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, headquartered at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, may be taken as typical of other such organizations in colleges around the country when he reports a member's estimate that the organization's membership number "does not begin to reflect the numbers of gay people on campus" (1988, p. 3). The sexual orientation of lesbians and gays may subject them, on one hand, to harassment and social stigma, and on the other to a way of life that essentially requires them to deny that orientation. In either case, the psychological or physical cost to homosexual students may be high, and their needs may not be either readily identifiable or easily met.
A preponderance of evidence shows that, by and large, college faculty, students, and student-service professionals have little preparation for dea...