1 in 6 Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ

LGBT identification in the United States has increased over time, according to a new Gallup poll on Wednesday. In fact, one in six Gen Z adults (those born between 1997 and 2002) identify as something other than heterosexual.

Almost 16% of Gen Z adults, aged 18 to 23 in 2020, identify as LGBT, according to the survey. And about 72% of those who identify as LGBT say they are bisexual.

This means that about 11.5% of all Gen Z adults in the United States are bisexual, according to Gallup.

As for the second youngest group of adults – Generation Y – 9.1% identify as LGBT. This demographic was born between 1981 and 1996. About half of millennials who identify as LGBTQ are bisexual.

But for older groups – Generation X (born 1965-1980), baby boomers (born 1946-1964) and traditionalists (born before 1946) – the number of people who identify as LGBTQ is declining, with 2% or less Americans born before 1965 who identified as LGBT.

Gallup only asked respondents if they identified as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender), although the LGBT community also encompasses other identifications, such as queer. Gallup said 3.3% of respondents did not report identifying as LGBT, but with another non-heterosexual term, such as queer or same-sex liking.

The poll, which was based on 15,000 interviews last year with Americans 18 and older, found that 5.6% of American adults identify as LGBT.

That number is up from the 2017 Gallup poll, which found 4.5% were identified as such. However, the 2017 survey only asked participants to answer “yes” or “no” to whether they identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The 2020 survey asked more detailed questions such as asking for a specific sexual orientation.

Gallup found that 86.7% of Americans are straight or straight and 7.6% did not answer the question about their sexual orientation. Respondents could give more than one answer when describing gender identification so that the total exceeds 100%.

Of the 5.6% of adults who identified as LGBT, more than half are bisexual, about a quarter are gay, 11.3% are lesbians and 11.3% are transgender, according to the 2020 survey.

This means that 3.1% of Americans identify as bisexual, 1.4% as gay, 0.7% as lesbian, and 0.6% as transgender.

Gallup also divided the data into subcategories, finding that women are more likely to identify as LGBT, as are politically liberal people.

“In an age when Americans increasingly support equal rights for gays, lesbians and transgender people, a growing percentage of Americans identify as LGBT,” Gallup says. “With younger generations being much more likely than older generations to consider themselves LGBT, this growth is expected to continue.”

Gallup says generational differences in identifying LGBT people have raised questions about whether there is actually a greater number of LGBT people among young Americans, “or if this simply reflects a greater willingness among younger people. to identify as LGBT. “