This article originally appeared in the Washington Blade.
The results of a national survey conducted by Gallup polling based on aggregated polling data from 2022 telephone surveys shows U.S. adults’ identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual held steady in 2022, at 7.2 percent.
In each survey, Gallup asks respondents if they identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something else, allowing them to choose multiple identities. After showing perceptible increases in 2020 and 2021, the current percentage of 7.2 percent is double what it was when Gallup first measured LGBTQ identification a decade ago.
The survey also found LGBTQ identification is higher in younger generations.
Adult members of Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2004 who were aged 18 to 25 in 2022, are the most likely subgroup to identify as LGBT, with 19.7 percent doing so. The rate is 11.2 percent among millennials and 3.3 percent or less among older generations.
In Generation Z, 13.1 percent say they are bisexual, 3.4 percent are gay, 2.2 percent are lesbian and 1.9 percent are transgender. Each of those percentages is higher than it is for all other generations.
According to Gallup’s report, in addition to the 7.2 percent identifying as LGBTQ, 86 percent of US adults say they are straight or heterosexual, while another 7 percent chose not to answer the question. As is typically the case, the greatest share of LBGTQ adults — more than half, or 4.2 percent of all U.S. adults — identify as bisexual.
U.S. adults’ identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual held steady in 2022, at 7.2%. The current percentage is double what it was when Gallup first measured LGBT identification a decade ago. pic.twitter.com/R9KZJqoP9z
— GallupNews (@GallupNews) February 22, 2023
Survey results here.
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