Lesbians Tend to Be Obese. Gay Men Tend to Be Toned. The Feds Have Paid Close to $3 Million Trying to Figure Out Why

Uncle Sam has been giving the National Institutes of Health millions of dollars to study how sexual minorities grapple with weight — "Why Lesbians Are Fat," in blunt language — and the Washington Free Beacon's Elizabeth Harrington has been tracking the project's ballooning budget, from $1.5 million to $2.2 million to, as of her report Friday, $2.87 million.

What have taxpayers gotten for their money?

A handful of research papers delivering some small insights into homosexual health.

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Gay and lesbian kids were up to 76 percent less likely than straight youth to play on a sports team, one paper reported, due largely to issues with "gender nonconformity and athletic self-esteem."

Another paper broke down a huge difference between gay men and lesbians: Gay men tend to think they're fat when they're not, while lesbians have the opposite problem.

"Compared with exclusively heterosexual males, heterosexual males with prior same-sex partners and bisexual males were more likely to self-perceive as overweight despite being of healthy weight or underweight," the study found. "Compared with exclusively heterosexual females, lesbians and bisexual females were more likely to self-perceive as being of healthy weight or underweight despite being overweight or obese."

The NIH isn't the only government organ studying homosexuality and health.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a massive survey in which they found that, compared to their straight counterparts, gays and lesbians were more likely to smoke, binge drink, get regular flu shots and meet federal guidelines for aerobic exercise.

The NIH study has received between $660,000 and $778,000 in funding each year since 2011, and is slated to continue until 2016.

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