There are more LGBT Americans since 2017: Gallup poll
A Gallup poll has recorded that there are more LGBT Americans now, 5.6 percent of US adults identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender versus 4.5 percent in 2017.
In 2016, 4.1 percent identified as LGBT while between 2012 and 2015, this number was 3.5 percent to 3.9 percent. Gallup did not measure LGBT identification in 2018 or 2019.
The recent poll results are based on more than 15,000 interviews conducted last year with Americans aged 18 and older.
Increasing number of LGBT Americans
Of those polled by Gallup, 86.7 percent identified themselves as heterosexual while 7.6 percent didn’t answer the question on sexual orientation.
Of those who identify as part of the LGBT community, majority of them or 54.6 percent identify as bisexuals.
The remaining were broken down as follows: 24.5 percent identified as gay, 11.7 percent identified as lesbian, and 11.3 percent identified as transgender.
Further, 3.3 percent identified as non-heterosexual preference or term in describing their sexual orientation, like queer or same-gender-loving.
As respondents could give multiple responses in identifying their sexual orientation, the total exceeds 100 percent.
Basing the percentages representing the share of the total US adult population, this means 3.1 percent identify as bisexual, 1.4 percent identify as gay, 0.7 percent as lesbian, and 0.6 percent as transgender.
Differing trends for LGBT Americans
Gallup cited a generation trend as one of the main reasons why more Americans have been identifying as LGBT: younger people are more likely to to consider themselves as other than heterosexual.
This identification is lower in each generation, with those Americans born before 1965 at two percent or less.
Meanwhile, majority of Generation Z adults– or 72 percent– who identify as LGBT tagged themselves as bisexual. Of this generation, about two percent each identify as gay, lesbian, or transgender.
Of those millennials who identify as LGBT, half tagged themselves as bisexual.
Gender-wise, more women are more likely than men to identify as LGBT, 6.4 percent versus 4.9 percent respectively. What’s more, women are more likely to identify as bisexual (4.3 percent) versus as lesbian (1.3 percent).
More importantly, as more Americans become supportive of LGBT rights, more Americans will identify themselves as LGBT, especially the younger generation.
Gallup said there was still the question whether this higher identification in younger generations reflects a shift in sexual orientation, or this is more of a greater willingness of this generation to identify as LGBT.
More LGBT adults married to same-sex spouse
Gallup also reported that about one in ten LGBT American adults are married to a same-sex spouse, or 9.6 percent. Moreover, 7.1 percent live with a same-sex domestic partner.
However, half of LGBT adults have never been married while 11.4 percent married to an opposite-sex spouse. 9.5 percent are either divorced or separated.
As LGBT identification is most prevalent among younger adults, this is why many of them have never been married.
Gallup noted the trend that more same-sex cohabitating couples are choosing marriage rather than domestic partnership, reaching 57 percent last year.
Before the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, those living together but were not married was at 62 percent while those who were married were at 38 percent.
Compared to the total US population, less than one percent of US adults are married to a same-sex spouse, as compared to 47.7 percent being married to an opposite-sex spouse.
However, this is because only one percent of bisexual adults report being married to a same-sex spouse, while 17.2 percent are married to a spouse of the opposite sex.