The recent results of the 2006 Census have been released and the figures show some surprising information.

For instance, Calgary is now the “Man Capital of Canada” according to a recent Calgary Herald headline, with 49.9 percent of the population being male. Not only that, but it’s a predominately young male population with males in the 20-24 age bracket comprising 40.1 percent of the population.

St. John’s, Newfoundland follows with 38 percent falling into that demographic and Edmonton, our sister city here in Alberta, clocking in at 37.9 percent. Vancouver, a city one would think young males would seek out, comes in at number eight with 37.1 per cent.

Part of the reason Alberta, and Calgary in particular, have such a high number of young men is due to the booming economy. The median age of your typical Albertan male is 36 years old, the lowest in Canada. Alberta is the only province in Canada where men outnumber women.

One of the Calgary Herald articles mentioned many of these men are not interested in dating, let alone marriage, at this stage of their lives, choosing to focus more on career advancement. No mention of what percentage of this demographic is gay, but I am willing to assume it is a significant one. I thought it interesting that the male population in Calgary was almost 50 percent and the highest in Canada. It certainly bodes well for Calgary gay men looking to hook-up!

Getting into what percentage of a given population is actually gay is always tricky. Estimates of the incidence of homosexuality in society range from something like one percent up to Kinsey’s famous 10 percent or higher…and all the figures come under intense debate. When Statistics Canada surveyed the number of people who identified as homosexual – a rather flawed way of establishing such numbers for reasons I will get into in a moment – the number was one percent.

The thing is, when you have an unknown individual show up at your door doing the census and that individual enquires as to what your sexual orientation is, a significant number of individuals in our community would choose to either not answer that question or give a false answer. Methodologically, this means of gathering information is not considered a good one by those who conduct studies. It’s fine for the purposes of census taking, but beyond that – especially when one delves into the realm of sexuality or other ‘private’ areas – it is too inaccurate.

The Christian Right, who always had difficulty with Kinsey’s findings and have roundly dismissed his methodology, latched onto the one percent figure as indicative of the disproportionate influence the so-called ‘gay agenda’ has had on Canadian politics and culture.

My tendency is to think the one percent figure reflects those within our community who are openly gay, lesbian or bisexual and who take little issue having that information listed in some government database, report, or census or otherwise known. The remaining percentage have fears – real or imagined – of such personal information ending up in exactly such a database, and what the result of having it there might mean, and therefore refused to answer or gave a false answer.

Since StatsCan only records numbers for demographic purposes (some of which, in turn, are used for program development and/or government funding of such programs), it wasn’t like “Smith, John D., born September 1971, homosexual common-law, residing at such-and-such an address” was going to end up in some Big Brother file somewhere.

Of course, in an era of political paranoia, terror watches, and scapegoating, one can hardly blame individuals for having such fears.

The downside of this increasingly younger demographic is as follows. While over 10 million Canadians are over 50 years of age, comprising almost one-third of the population and tending to have significant spending power, this age group often finds itself condescended to, if not outright ignored by advertisers.

Another recent Calgary Herald piece, written by Susan Proudfoot, noted advertisers tend to portray this group as “people who do nothing but sip coffee while fretting over life insurance and incontinence products.” Some might argue this attitude is long overdue, given the dominant influence of baby-boomers over the last 30-odd years in all areas of the culture, and it is now time to focus on Generations X & Y.

The irony here is Boomers are the same generation that created youth culture as something distinct, and attention worthy to begin with. Madison Avenue certainly had caught on to the phenomenon well before the Summer of Love in 1969, or at least shortly thereafter, but has failed to realize the Flower Children of that era have aged. Ad agencies still market to youth and continue to ignore ‘mature’ consumers.

There has long been a generational divide. Good grief, it was the baby boomers who, if not created it, certainly glorified it. We tended to think it was the previous generation who did that with the emergence of the concept of ‘teenager’ in the 1950’s and popularized by such youth anti-heroes as James Dean. “Don’t trust anyone over the age of 30” was the rallying cry throughout the demonstrations that marked the 1960’s. It amazes me that those who market, and profit from, consumerism have not kept pace with the large demographic blip of the Baby Boomer Generation, and it’s generally highly disposable income. It would appear tracking that demographic would be Economics 101. Certainly, companies want to create a base of faithful consumers and often will do that by marketing to a younger demographic but, if that base is then abandoned or ignored as they age, it seems to be self-defeating or at least short-sighted.

I suppose one could say the chickens have come home to roost. As a gay male ‘Boomer,’ – the generation that warned against trusting anyone over 30 - I hear individuals who I perceive as contemporaries (even though I am 20-plus years older in some instances) refer to establishments that cater to a ‘mature’ crowd as “wrinkle bars” and lament about how older gay men and lesbians have no respect for the younger crowd. Respect cuts both ways…

It is always a dangerous game to start talking in generalities. Not all of the “older generation” sits around bemoaning the lack of respect shown them by the “younger generation” and not all of that generation dismisses anyone over 45 as irrelevant. Having said that, when I turned 50 it appears I suddenly became invisible and, apparently, mute. It came as bit of a shock.

My appreciative gaze was no longer returned by men I might pass on the street, or it would be met with glaring hostility even by those I knew to be gay men. I often felt unheard in mixed-generational settings. I started being called “Sir” a lot more often (and being a Leather bottom, this was more jarring than it might otherwise have been). In one instance while at The Eagle an individual I found to be quite ‘hot’ asked a mutual friend who ‘the old guy’ was, referring to me. The attractiveness quotient of that individual took an immediate nose-dive although I am gradually seeing the humour in the comment and my reaction to it.

With 40.1 percent of the Calgary population being between 20 and 24 years of age, I don’t hold out much hope things will improve unless there is a recognition all of us – youth and those of us who have been around since God’s Bar Mitzvah – have something valuable to contribute to our community and receive the respect due to each of us.

Stephen Lock is a long time gay activist and free lance writer in Alberta. He is the former Secretary and co-director for Egale Canada in the Prairies/NWT/Nunavut Region, a founding member of the Sexuality and Gender Diversity Advisory Committee (aka Police Liaison Committee), and was the producer and host of a semi-monthly GLBTQ radio show, Speak Sebastian, for 14 years on CJSW FM 90.9 (currently on hiatus). He lives in Calgary with his partner of 26 years and their ‘fur child’, Joey, a Bishon-Cavalier Spaniel cross.