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Gallup study reveals Americans identifying as LGBTQ+ doubled to 7.1% in last decade

Gallup’s latest estimate found that 7.1 per cent of US adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual

A new Gallup poll has revealed that the number of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ has doubled in the last decade.

Based on the data aggregated in 2021, the study states that presently, 7.1 per cent of Americans consider themselves to have an LGBTQ+ identity. More than 12,000 US adults were interviewed for the study. The study states that the number has doubled from 3.5 per cent in 2012.

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Gallup News tweeted, “Gallup’s latest estimate finds 7.1% of U.S. adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. http://on.gallup.com/36ba1pM.”

Gallup conducted a telephonic survey where they asked American netizens whether they personally identify as straight or heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

Respondents were also given a chance to volunteer any other sexual orientation or gender identity they preferred.

The findings revealed that 7.1 per cent of US adults considered themselves to be of LGBTQ+ identity, while 86.3 per cent say they are straight or heterosexual, and 6.6 per cent did not offer any opinion.

The data reveals that the Gen-Z population identifying as something other than heterosexual is double than that of millennials who do so, while the gap widened even further when compared with the data of older generations.

The increase in LGBTQ+ identification implies that identities other than heterosexual have been popular among the youngest US adults as compared with the older generations as the new Gen-Z population is replacing the older generation in the adult population.

The data estimated that 21 per cent of Gen-Z (born between 1997 and 2003) Americans have reached adulthood and identify as LGBTQ+. Among LBGTQ+ Americans, bisexual identification was most common.

In LGBTQ+ Americans, 57 per cent are bisexual. Around 21 per cent of LGBTQ+ Americans are gay, 14 per cent are lesbian, 10 per cent are transgender, and 4 per cent are something else. This percentage translates that 4 per cent of all US adults are bisexuals and the rest comprise 2 per cent of the US adults. Bisexual is the most common.

Older Americans, who identify themselves as LGBTQ+, are likely to be gay or lesbian as to say they are bisexual which differed from Gen-Z and Gen-X data.

The Gallup report estimates that women are more likely than men to identify as bisexual, while most men identify as gay.  

After most of the Gen-Z reached adulthood, the proportion of US adults who consider themselves to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, has grown at a faster pace as compared to the past years.

The increase implies that Americans are increasingly accepting the LGBTQ+ community and the young adults enjoy the increasing legal protection given to them against discrimination.

The disparity between the new and the old generations is expected to grow in the future as younger generations will constitute a larger share of the total US demography and this estimates that LGBTQ+ Americans should exceed by 10 per cent in the coming years.