US survey shows the number of LGBT+ people is increasing dramatically (and trans people are clearly not erasing lesbians…)
A brand new survey published by Gallup in the US shows that there is a big increase in the number of Americans that see themselves as LGBT+. This applies to the number bisexual, gay, trans and lesbian people.
LGBT identification is now 5.6% among US adults in general. The current estimate is up from 4.5% in Gallup’s previous update based on 2017 data. The number for 2012 was 3.5%.
LGBT identification is lower in each older generation, including 2% or less of Americans born before 1965 (aged 56 and older in 2020).
This is the first time Gallup has asked detailed questions about how LGBT people identify. This means that we have to compare the answers given by people from different generations to see if there has been any shifts as regards their specific sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Some take aways from the survey:
The biggest cross-generational increase is found in the percentage who experience themselves as bisexual: Baby Boomers: 0.3% vs. Gen Z: 11.5%. Women are more likely to think of themselves as bisexual than men, which may explain why we find a higher percentage of gay men compared to lesbian women in the LGBT+ community.
There is also an increase in the percentage that see themselves as gay, although not as big: Baby Boomers: 1.2% vs. Gen Z: 2.1%.
The percentage of trans people is also much higher in the younger cohorts (0.2% vs. 1.8%), but this has clearly not led to a decline in the percentage of lesbians (in spite of what some “gender critical feminists” would like you to believe). There is actually a much higher percentage of the youngest adults who identify as lesbian, when compared to the older generations: Baby Boomers 0.4% vs. Gen Z 1.4%.
What I read out of this survey is that the increasing openness towards — and visibility of — LGBT+ people, makes it easier for people to see themselves as some shade of queer or trans, and to come out as such. That is great news for all LGBTQA+ people as well as for the community as a whole.
We find similar developments in other countries, like in Norway:
The percentage of Norwegians identifying as some shade of queer has increased from 1.5% to 7% in 12 years
A study presented by Statistics Norway show a huge increase in the number of Norwegians identifying as queer.
In 2008 1.5 percent of the Norwegian population identified as queer (not heterosexual). In 2020 as many as 7 percent saw themselves as queer.
That is a huge increase, reflecting a society becoming more and more tolerant of such diversity.
The biggest increase is found in the bisexual category. Still, the TERF myth that the gay and lesbian identities are going extinct because of trans activism is again proven wrong. Younger people are much more likely to identify as gay or lesbian than those over 40.
The percentage of queer Norwegians divided on age cohorts.
“Skeiv” means “queer.”
“År” means “year”.
Green: “Another sexual orientation”
Black: “Bisexual”
Blue: “Gay or lesbian”
See also discussion over at the Crossdream Life forum.
Top photo: FG Trade
Originally published at https://trans-express.lgbt.
