For decades, public perception on the street suggested that people who identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community accounted for 10 percent of the American population. However, according to the polling firm Gallup, approximately 7.2% of adults in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ+, representing an almost two-fold increase from a decade ago.
In 2022, Gallup conducted a survey of over 10,000 adults in the U.S. to uncover the number of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise.
The poll also found that 20 percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they were gay or homosexual, 13.4 percent said they were lesbian, and almost 9 percent said they identified as transgender.
Sixty percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they were as bisexual.
Jeff Jones, a senior editor with Gallup, said that since Gallup has been tracking LGBTQ+ identities, the only notable difference seen over time in how certain generations identified came from millennials.
“Since we started tracking LGBT identification, we’ve only really seen a notable increase among one generation – the millennials. That went from 5.8 percent in 2012 (before all millennials had reached adulthood), to 7.8 percent in 2017 and 11.2 percent this year. The other generations’ figures are very similar to what we have measured back to 2012,” Jones told The Advocate in an email.
The recent Gallup poll reveals the importance of LGBTQ+ rights, with many state legislatures pushing for bills to protect the community. The Human Rights Campaign is currently tracking 340 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, 150 of which are focused on restricting transgender rights.
In recent times, various states have taken steps to limit gender-affirming care for the transgender community, particularly for young people. This has made it difficult to access healthcare within these regions.
Do you think 7.2 percent of Americans identify as LGBTQ+? Or, is it more or less?
