LGBT Identities by Generation

 

Today, we continue our tour of Gallup’s survey by examining the prevalence of LGBT identities across generations.

In 2023, Gallup asked more than 12,000 US adults whether they identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something else.

 

 

Gallup calculated the percent of each generation that identifies as LGBT, which can be seen in the graph below. 

 

 

 

 

The percent of each generation of US adults who identify as LGBT is about twice as large as the generation that preceded them.

 

As you can see, 22.3% of Gen Z adults identify as LGBT.

That means more than 1 in 5 Gen Z adults are LGBT.

Gen Z adults were born from 1997 to 2005. They were 18 to 26 years old in 2023.

 

 

 

Gallup also provided the percent of each generation of US adults who identified with specific LGBT identities. 

 

 

 

 

 

I created two bar graphs using data from this table.

The first bar graph allows readers to compare LGBT identities within individual generations.

The bars are color coded for specific LGBT identities, as shown in the legend near the top.

 

 

 

The second bar graph divides the data by specific LGBT identities to allow readers to compare the prevalence of those identities by generation.

The bars on this graph are color coded for different generations, as shown in the legend near the top. 

 

 

 

The biggest takeaway from this data set is the two largest values are for bisexual Gen Z adults, and bisexual Millennials.

A total of 15.3% of Gen Z adults are bisexual, and 5.9% of Millennials are bisexual.

It’s also worth noting that there is a general pattern that each specific LGBT identity is more common in each younger generation, although that pattern isn’t true for all values.

 

 

  

 

Gen Z identities by year

 

Next, let’s take a closer look at LGBT identity among Gen Z adults.

Gen Z adults were born from 1997 to 2005. They were 18 to 26 years old in 2023.

I created three line graphs showing the percent of Gen Z adults who identified with specific LGBT identities in each of Gallup’s four most recent surveys.

The first graph demonstrates the total values for LGBT identity tracks fairly well with the values for bisexual.

 

 

 

 

The second graph, which only includes specific identities, demonstrates how much larger the values for bisexual are than the values for everything else.

 

 

 

 

 

The third and final graph shows a close up of the bottom of the previous two graphs. 

 

 

As you can see, the order of lesbian, transgender, and gay identities among Gen Z adults changes from year to year.

The values for these identities are all fairly close together, particularly in the most recent survey.

The line for “other” represents volunteered responses not specifically listed in Gallup’s question, the most common of which are pansexual and asexual.

 

 

Here is a table showing the values used to create the line graphs shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millennial identities by year

 

Now, let’s take a closer look at specific LGBT identities among Millennials, based on Gallup’s surveys. 

Millennials were born from 1981 to 1996. They were 27 to 42 years old in 2023. 

As you can see, the percent of Millennials who identify as LGBT tracks fairly well with the percent of Millennials who identify as bisexual.

 

 

 

 

This graph only shows the prevalence of specific LGBT identities among Millennials. 

 

 

Bisexual is consistently the most common LGBT identity among Millennials, by a significant margin.

Gay is consistently the second most common LGBT identity among Millennials.

For the past three years, more Millennials have identified as lesbian than transgender.

But in 2020, more Millennials identified as transgender than lesbian.

Once again, “other” represents volunteered responses not specifically listed in Gallup’s question, such as pansexual and asexual.

 

 

Here is the table of values used to create the line graphs for Millennial LGBT identities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bisexuals by Generation

 

Next, let’s compare bisexual identification by generation.

Bisexual is consistently the most prevalent LGBT identity in Gallup’s surveys. 

 

Here is a line graph showing the percent of each generation of US adults who identify as bisexual.

 

 

 

The values for bisexual Gen Z adults are consistently significantly higher than the bisexual values for other generations.

The overall value for bisexual US adults is consistently between the values for Millennials and Gen X.

We see a nearly consistent pattern where each generation’s prevalence of bisexual identification is more common than the generation that came before.

The only exception is 2020, when 0.3% of both Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation identified as bisexual.

 

 

Here is the table of values used to create the line graph showing bisexuals by generation.

 

 

 

 

 

Gen Z identities

 

Gallup has the best data regarding the prevalence of minority sexualities in the US.

But the Pew Research Center has the best data regarding the prevalence of minority gender identities in the US. 

I first examined Pew's results in "Gender Identity in the United States."  

Here are the prevalence rates for several LGBT identities among Gen Z adults, based on surveys from Gallup and the Pew Research Center.

 

 

Identity                                 Gen Z Adults

 

Bisexual                              15.3% (Gallup, 2023)

Nonbinary                           4.1% (Pew, 2022)

Lesbian                               3.0% (Gallup, 2023)

Binary Trans                       2.8% (Pew, 2022)

Gay                                     2.6% (Gallup, 2023)

 

 

 

I created a bar graph based on these values.

 

 

As you can see, bisexual is by far the most common LGBT identity among Gen Z adults.

Nonbinary comes in second, followed by lesbian, binary trans, and gay.

 

 

 

Acronyms are often used to collectively describe sexual and transgender minorities. 

"LGBT" is the most common form of the acronym. 

Sometimes, people use longer forms of the acronym, such as "LGBTQIA". 

 

In “Thoughts on the Acronym,” I imagined what the acronym would look like if its letters were organized by how common LGBT identities were among Gen Z adults.

Based on the data available at the time, that acronym was “BNGTLAI.”

We don’t have data regarding the prevalence of Asexual and Intersex identity among Gen Z adults, so I put those letters at the end. 

 

Gallup’s latest data has changed the order of LGBT identities among Gen Z adults.

Now that acronym would be “BNLTGAI.” 

 

Reordering the acronym based on the survey data for Gen Z makes for a fun thought experiment.

But I don't think we should replace the much more familiar "LGBT," at least not based on survey data for Gen Z. 

Considering the variability of the order of the less common Gen Z identities, it would be rather impractical to update the acronym every year based on survey data.

 

 

In the next article, we’ll compare Gallup’s LGBT data for men and women.

For the first time, Gallup has provided data for nonbinary respondents.

We’ll take a close look at that as well. 

 

 

Specific Identities

 

The percent of US adults who identify as Bisexual, Lesbian, and Transgender has increased, according to a new Gallup poll.

The percent of US adults who identify as gay has remained the same.

 

 

In 2023, Gallup surveyed more than 12,000 US adults over the phone.

Gallup asked respondents whether they identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something else.

Overall, 7.6% of US adults identify with one or more LGBT groups.

 

Here are the percent of US adults who identified with specific LGBT identities in 2023, according to Gallup.

Identity                     US adults

 

Bisexual                     4.4%

Gay                            1.4%

Lesbian                      1.2%

Transgender               0.9%

 

 

 

Gallup also provided the percent of LGBT adults who identify with each specific identity. 

 

 

 

Bisexual is by far the largest LGBT identity.

4.4% of US adults identify as bisexual.

A majority of LGBT US adults, 57.3%, identify as bisexual.

 

 

 

Bisexual identity among US adults in 2023 increased by 0.2%, compared to the year before.

Lesbian also increased by 0.2%.

Transgender increased by 0.3%. 

 

 

The following table shows the percent of US adults who identified with specific LGBT identities in Gallup’s annual survey for the past four years.

 

 

 

 

 

I created a line graph, using Flourish, to illustrate this data.

 

 

The percent of US adults who identify as LGBT appears to track fairly well with the values for bisexual.

 

 

 

 

Here is a version of the graph that only shows specific LGBT identities.

 

 

As you can see, the order of identities remains consistent. Bisexual is always the largest, followed by Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender, in that order. 

 

 

 

 

Volunteered Responses

 

Respondents to Gallup’s survey could volunteer responses other than Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender.

Gallup counted respondents who volunteered responses toward their LGBT total.

The most commonly volunteered responses were pansexual and asexual.

A total of 0.1% of US adults said they were pansexual, and 0.1% said they were asexual.

 

 

Bisexual and pansexual are near synonyms. They mean essentially the same thing.

These results do not, and cannot, indicate whether people are more likely to identify as bisexual or pansexual.

You can’t fairly compare the number of respondents who identify with a response listed in the question to a volunteered response that is not.

As I explained in my article on last year’s Gallup results, we still don’t know whether bisexual or pansexual is preferred by more people who identify with one or both of these terms.

 

 

Nonetheless, Gallup's volunteered responses do provide us with a new and interesting revelation. 

The number of US adults who provide queer as a volunteered response has fallen off a cliff.

Queer can either be used as an umbrella term for LGBT or as a specific sexuality.

I examined the nuances of queer as an LGBT identity in “Thoughts on the Acronym.”

I explained the history of the word queer and its evolving meanings in “The Big Picture.”

 

As a volunteered response to Gallup’s LGBT question, it appears most likely that queer is being offered as a specific sexuality.

That is because three out of the four terms listed in Gallup’s question (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) are specific sexualities.

The numbers for volunteered responses are very small, but we can use the percent of LGBT adults who identify with a volunteered response to more easily compare these results from year to year.

 

About 0.1% of US adults submitted queer as a volunteered response in 2022.

About 0.01% of US adults did the same in 2023.

That is an order of magnitude difference.

The percent of US adults who provided queer as a volunteered response in 2022 was 11 times larger than it was in 2023.

 

Although we should be reluctant to conclude too much based on Gallup’s volunteered responses, it appears the number of people who identify with queer as a specific sexuality may have significantly declined.

 

 

 

 

Comparisons to Other Surveys

 

Gallup’s data on sexuality in the US in unmatched in terms of its quality.

Regarding gender identity, I prefer data from the Pew Research Center.

In 2022, a Pew survey determined 1.0% of US adults are nonbinary, and 0.6% of US adults are binary transgender.

I first discussed Pew’s survey in “Gender Identity in the United States.”

 

Using the results of a research study, I was able to determine 0.3% of US adults identified as asexual in 2020.

The study offered asexual as a potential response to its sexual orientation question.

I discussed that study in “Asexuality in the United States.”

 

Now let’s compare these values to the prevalence rates for sexualities from Gallup’s latest poll.

 

 

Identity                     US adults

 

Bisexual                   4.4% (Gallup, 2023)

Gay                          1.4% (Gallup, 2023)

Lesbian                    1.2% (Gallup, 2023)

Nonbinary                1.0% (Pew, 2022)

Binary Trans            0.6% (Pew, 2022)

Asexual                    0.3% (Research Study, 2020)

 

 

 

I created a bar graph, using Flourish, to compare these results.

 

 

Once again, we can see bisexual is far and away the largest LGBT identity.

 

 

In "Thoughts on the Acronym," I imagined what a long form of the acronym would look like if its letters were arranged by how common specific LGBT identities were among US adults. 

Based on this new data, the order of those letters remains unchanged. 

And we still don't know how many US adults identify as intersex. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comparisons to US States

 

We can use Gallup’s data to calculate how many US adults identify as bisexual, gay, and lesbian.

About 11.5 million US adults are bisexual.

About 3.7 million US adults are gay.

And about 3.1 million US adults are lesbian.

 

 

Here is a graph showing the number of US adults who identify with specific LGBT identities.

 

 

 

We can then compare these numbers to the populations of US states and territories, as I first did in, “How many Americans are LGBT?”

Surveys generally don’t ask children and adolescents about their sexualities and gender identities, due to privacy concerns.

So keep in mind that the figures for LGBT identities represent US adults, whereas the populations for US states include all residents, regardless of age.

 

 

The number of US adults who are bisexual is closest to the population of Ohio, which is home to 11.8 million people.

Ohio is the seventh largest state by population. 

 

 

The number of bisexual US adults has surpassed the population of Georgia. Previously, the number of bisexual US adults had been smaller than Georgia’s population.

 

 

 

The percent of US adults who identify as gay remains unchanged from 2022.

The number of US adults who are gay is closest to the population of Connecticut, which is home to 3.6 million people.

Connecticut is the 29^th largest state by population. 

 

 

 

 

 

The number of lesbian US adults is closest to the population of Nevada, which is home to 3.2 million people.

Nevada is the 32^nd largest state by population.

 

 

The number of US adults who are lesbian has surpassed the populations of Mississippi, Kansas, and Arkansas.

Previously, lesbian was tied with nonbinary, which appears on the right side of the graph.

 

 

 

In the next article, we’ll take a closer look at LGBT identities among Gen Z adults and see how they compare to other generations.