More than 10 million Americans now identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, according to a new analysis by Gallup of its daily polling data.
The analysis, based on interviews with more than 1.6 million US adults over five years of data collection, suggests that this isn’t just because the population is growing but because more people are openly identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender than before. About 3.5 percent of American adults identified this way in 2012, while 4.1 percent did in 2016.
Younger generations are more likely to identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. According to Gallup, 7.3 percent of millennials identified as such in 2016, up from 5.8 percent in 2012. Just 3.2 percent of Generation X did in 2016 (the same as in 2012), 2.4 percent of baby boomers did (down from 2.7 percent in 2012), and 1.4 percent of traditionalists did (down from 1.8 percent in 2012).
Gallup found rises in identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender among men, women, all racial groups, all income groups, and all education levels. The two groups that weren’t more likely to identify as such were the moderately and highly religious.
The findings don’t necessarily mean that the number of people who are LGBTQ has increased over the past few years. Rather, the results may show that people are more willing to be open about their identities now that LGBTQ people are much more accepted in American society. After all, it’s likely no coincidence that the generation most accepting of LGBTQ rights — from same-sex marriage to trans rights — is also the most likely to say it identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
In some sense, then, the survey can be taken as a sign of progress: After centuries of oppression of LGBTQ people, more are willing to live their lives out in the open.