Number of LGBTQ+ people in the US on the rise, survey shows
Gallup has found that the number of people identifying as LGBTQ+ continues to grow in the US. (Getty/Flashpop)
The number of people identifying as LGBTQ+ continues to grow in the US, according to the latest research.
A Gallup poll revealed that close to eight per cent of US adults now identify as LGBTQ+, or another orientation rather than heterosexual.
Gallup first began measuring sexual orientation and trans identity in 2012, when the figure was 3.5 per cent. Four years ago, it was 5.6 per cent. The latest results come from telephone surveys last year, among more than 12,000 Americans aged 18 and above.
Asked how they identified, 85.6 per cent of the respondents said they were straight or heterosexual, 7.6 per cent put themselves in one or more of the LGBTQ+ groups, and 6.8 per cent declined to answer.
Bisexual identify found to be most prevalent
Close to five per cent of all adults – and 57.3 per cent of the LGBTQ+ adults – identified as bisexual.
Gay and lesbian identities followed behind, both with about one in every six of the LGBTQ+ surveyed. The number of trans identities remained the lowest, at slightly less than one per cent of all adults and around one in eight LGBTQ+ people identifying as so.
Women were found to be nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ+ at 8.5 per cent of the participants, compared with 4.7 per cent.
Changes have been led by younger Americans
The survey also revealed that the younger generations are more likely to identify as LGBTQ+.
More than one in five Gen Z adults – those between the ages of 18 to 26 – identified as LGBTQ+, while one in 10 millennials – 27 to 42 year olds – also identifying as LGBTQ+. The percentage dropped to below five per cent for Generation X, two per cent of Baby Boomers and one per cent of the “Silent Generation”.
In January, a poll for Axios revealed that Gen Z Americans were more LGBTQ+ and less Republican than any previous generation.
In the UK, data from the 2021 England and Wales census showed that more young people feel safe enough to come out as queer.
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