LGBT identification in the United States has increased over time, according to a new Gallup poll released on Wednesday. In fact, one in six adults in Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2002) identify as something other than heterosexual.
Nearly 16% of Generation Z adults, who were between 18 and 23 in 2020, identify themselves as LGBT, according to the survey. And about 72% of those who identify themselves as LGBT say they are bisexual.
This means that about 11.5% of all Generation Z adults in the U.S. are bisexual, according to Gallup.
Gallup
As for the second youngest group of adults – generation Y – 9.1% identify themselves as LGBT. This demographic group was born between 1981 and 1996. About half of the millennials who identify themselves 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 themselves as LGBTQ decreases, with 2% or less of Americans born before 1965 identification as LGBT.
Gallup only asked respondents whether they identified themselves as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender), although the LGBT community also encompasses other identifications, such as queer. Gallup said that 3.3% of respondents did not say they identified themselves as LGBT, but with another non-heterosexual term, such as homosexual or same-sex lover.
The survey, which was based on 15,000 interviews last year with Americans over 18, found that 5.6% of American adults identify themselves as LGBT.
That number is above the 2017 Gallup survey, which found 4.5% identified as such. However, the 2017 survey only asked participants to answer “yes” or “no” if they identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The 2020 survey asked more detailed questions, such as asking for precise sexual orientation.
Gallup found that 86.7% of Americans are heterosexual or heterosexual and 7.6% did not answer the question about their sexual orientation. Respondents can provide several responses when describing sexual identification, so that the total exceeds 100%.
Of the 5.6% of adults who identified themselves as LGBT, more than half are bisexual, about a quarter are gay, 11.3% are lesbians and 11.3% are transgender, the 2020 survey found.
This means that 3.1% of Americans identify themselves as bisexual, 1.4% as gay, 0.7% as lesbian and 0.6% as transgender.
Gallup
Gallup also divided the data into subcategories, finding that women are more likely to identify as LGBT, as are politically liberal people.
“At a time when Americans are increasingly supporting equal rights for gays, lesbians and transgender people, an increasing percentage of Americans identify themselves as LGBT,” said Gallup. “With younger generations far more likely than older generations to consider themselves LGBT, this growth is expected to continue.”
Gallup says that generational differences in LGBT identification have raised questions about whether there are actually more LGBT people among younger Americans, “or whether it merely reflects a greater willingness of young people to identify themselves as LGBT.”