Poll sees uptick in Americans identifying as LGBTQ

February 24, 2023 Queer Forty Staff 1 min read

The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as LGBTQ or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new high.

The latest figure is a percentage of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it.

Gallup asks Americans whether they personally identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender as part of the demographic information it collects on all U.S. telephone surveys.

In addition to the 7.1% of U.S. adults who consider themselves to be an LGBTQ identity, 86.3% say they are straight or heterosexual, and 6.6% do not offer an opinion. The results are based on 2021 data drawn from interviews with more than 12,000 U.S. adults.

What is causing the increase?

According to Gallup, the increase in LGBTQ identification in recent years reflects the higher prevalence of such identities among the youngest U.S. adults compared with the older generations they are replacing in the U.S. adult population.

Approximately 21% of Generation Z American adults — those born between 1997 and 2003 — identify as LGBTQ. That is nearly double the proportion of millennials who identify as such, while the gap widens even further when compared with older generations such as Generation X or Baby Boomers.

Gen Z adults made up 7% of Gallup’s 2017 national sample, but in 2021 accounted for 12% as more from that generation reached age 18 over the past four years. There has been a modest uptick among millennials, from 5.8% in 2012 (when some members of the generation had not yet turned 18) to 7.8% in 2017 and 10.5% currently.