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Notes -
There's so many possible directions to go that without any data to work off, it's hard to know where to even look.
My first question would be are gay people actually overrepresented? What is the base rate comparison?
Secondly, given an affirmative to the first questions, I'd ask whether its actually gay representation or out gay overrepresentation. Especially looking at any data prior to say 2010.
You would assume that being publically homosexual in a society where it's disapproved of would come at a significant cost. So it would follow that those most likely to pay it are those able to pay it.
Lets say you have 100 rich men and 100 middle class men in 1960. In each of those 6 are gay and another 10 are bisexual. In the middle class group 4 of those gay men and 9 of the bisexual men are not openly gay for fear of their livelihood and employment. Of the rich, say only 3 of the gays and 7 of the bisexual are closeted.
It would appear that the gays were overrepresnted in the rich. In actuality, rich people have more options.
The next thing I would think would be, as you suggest, among smart and conscientious people, homosexuals would historically be less occupied with supporting their families and minimizing that risk. So of the pool of gay people capable of being a celebrity intellect and proportional straight men, yeah I would assume enough of the straight men would have already invested the critical resources and time and attention toward family formation. Even a small difference would result in overrepresented gays in high status tournament style recognition.
That was the first place my mind went as well. Regardless of what the base rate of alternative sexual preferences in the general population is I would expect expression of/indulgence in those preferences to be concentrated at the tail ends of the bell curve.
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