The organization gained its original name from a widely held (but false)[2] belief that scientist Alfred Kinsey's research in the 1940s and 1950s had stated that ten percent of the population was gay.
While the organization had little early success, it started to foster an increased tolerance for gay people and a more active LGBT rights movement in North Dakota.
In 1975, the North Dakota State legislature legalized private, adult, consensual and noncommercial homosexuality as part of a larger revision of the criminal code.
A similar group was formed at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
Today, the Ten Percent Society is still a recognized student organization at the University of North Dakota under the name Queer & Trans Alliance.