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LGBTQAI+ in the United States

According to Jeffrey M. Jones of Gallup, as of March 13, 2024, Americans' self-identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual is 7.6%. Most LGBTQ+ individuals say they are bisexual. Gay and lesbian are the next-most-common identities, each representing slightly over 1% of U.S. adults and roughly one in six LGBTQ+ adults. Slightly less than 1% of U.S. adults and about one in eight LGBTQ+ adults are transgender.

Gallup (2024) researcher Jones notes that generation Z and the millennial generation are far more likely than those in older generations to identify as LGBTQ+. Overall, each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+. More than one in five Gen Z adults, ranging in age from 18 to 26 in 2023, identify as LGBTQ+, as do nearly one in 10 millennials (aged 27 to 42). The percentage drops to less than 5% of Generation X, 2% of baby boomers and 1% of the Silent Generation. Also from Gallup (2024):

• Bisexuality is the most common LGBTQ+ status among Generation Z, millennials and Generation X. 
• Individuals who identify as women are nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ+, 8.5% versus 4.7%. 
• Women are more likely than men to have an LGBTQ+ identification in the three youngest generations. Close to three in 10 Gen Z women, 28.5%, identify as LGBTQ+, compared with 10.6% of Gen Z men. Among millennials, 12.4% of women and 5.4% of men have an LGBTQ+ identification.
• More than one in five Gen Z women identify as bisexual, as do 9% of millennial women.
• The gender differences reported above do not account for the nonbinary population, which represents about 1% of U.S. adults.

LGBTQAI+ in Utah

In looking specifically at Utah young adults make up the larger share of LGBTQIA+ individuals. According to Axios authors Bojórquez, Fitspatrick and Beheraj (2024), "Utahns between the ages of 18-24 make up the state's largest age group of people who identify as LGBT, according to estimates from UCLA's Williams Institute, a think tank focused on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy."

According to Fitzpatrick and Beheraj, an estimated 6% of Utah adults identify as LGBT, as compared to 5.5% nationally, Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj report. 15.3% of Utahns ages 18-24 identify as LGBT, compared to 8.7% of people 25-34, 3.8% for ages 35-49, 2.6% between 50-64 and 1.7% who are 65 or older. The estimates are based on combined 2020-2021 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a CDC effort to collect wide-ranging health info through phone surveys. (Jones, 2024)

References

• Bojoquez, K., Fitzpatrick, A., Beheraj, K. (2024) Young adults make up larger share of LGBT Utahns. Axios Salt Lake City. https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/02/20/lgbt-community-young-adults-utah-population
• Jones, J. M. (2024) LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Now at 7.6%. Gallup. Social and Policy Issues. https://news.gallup.com/poll/611864/lgbtq-identification.aspx

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