Gallup polling finds that 7.1% of US adults identify as LGBT

According to data collected across 13 Gallup polls conducted in 2021, 7.1% of U.S. adults identify as LGBT or as something besides heterosexual.

While not all members of Generation Z have arrived at adulthood yet, Gallup reported that among those in Gen Z who were born between 1997 and 2003, a whopping 20.8% identify as LGBT. This contrasts with the 10.5% of Millennials, 4.2% of Generation X, 2.6% of Baby Boomers, and 0.8% of Traditionalists who identify this way.

The numbers clearly show that younger generations identify as LGBT in a significantly higher proportion than older generations.

"Given the large disparities in LGBT identification between younger and older generations of Americans, the proportion of all Americans who identify as LGBT can be expected to grow in the future as younger generations will constitute a larger share of the total U.S. adult population," Gallup noted.

A majority (56.8%) of the U.S. adults who identify as LGBT say they are bisexual, a figure that equates to 4% of U.S. adults, according to Gallup.

While 20.7% of LGBT U.S. adults say that they are gay, 13.9% identify as lesbian, 10% as transgender, and 4.3% as something else — Gallup noted that the sum of these percentages exceeds 100% because respondents could select more than one category.

Various LGBT-related issues have been the focal point of ongoing culture wars in the U.S., such as whether bakers and florists who object to homosexual marriage have the right to decline to service same-sex weddings, and whether biological males who identify as women should be allowed to compete in women's sports.