More Identify as LGBT, Especially Among Millennials

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While evangelical Christians and Mormons remain the most consumed by anti-LGBT animus - in my view, because the mere existence of gays threatens their Bronze Ade based world view - and Christofascists continue to peddle the fraudulent myth that gays can "change"  for both monetary and political purposes, a new Gallup survey indicates that the percentage of American adults self-identifying as LGBT is increasing, particularly among Millennials who at 8.2% are nearly twice as likely to identify as LGBT than older generations.  Personally, I still believe the true number is even higher in all age brackets given the number of LGBT individuals who continue to "live in the closet." While Gallup doesn't analyze the marked increase in Millennials identifying as LGBT, I suspect two factors are in play: (i) Millennials have grown up with exposure to increased LGBT rights, and (ii) close to 40% of Millennials have walked away from religion, the sole underlying cause from anti-LGBT animus and discrimination.  Here are some of the Gallup findings:

The percentage of American adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) increased to 4.5% in 2017, up from 4.1% in 2016 and 3.5% in 2012 when Gallup began tracking the measure. The latest estimate is based on over 340,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup's daily tracking in 2017.

Extrapolation to the latest census estimate of adults 18 and older in the U.S. suggests that more than 11 million adults identify as LGBT in the country today.

The expansion in the number of Americans who identify as LGBT is driven primarily by the cohort of millennials, defined as those born between 1980 and 1999. The percentage of millennials who identify as LGBT expanded from 7.3% to 8.1% from 2016 to 2017, and is up from 5.8% in 2012. By contrast, the LGBT percentage in Generation X (those born from 1965 to 1979) was up only .2% from 2016 to 2017. There was no change last year in LGBT percentage among baby boomers (born 1946 through 1964) and traditionalists (born prior to 1946).

Women continue to be more likely to identify as LGBT than men, and this gender gap expanded last year.

Overall, 5.1% of women in 2017 identified as LGBT, compared with 3.9% of men. The change among men over time has been minimal, with the LGBT percentage edging up from 3.4% in 2012 to 3.7% both last year and this year. On the other hand, the percentage of women identifying as LGBT has risen from 3.5% in 2012 to 5.1% today, with the largest jump occurring between 2016 and 2017.

The LGBT percentage has risen among all race and ethnic groups since 2012, although not on an equal basis. Hispanics and Asians have seen the greatest increase, thus contributing the most on a relative basis to the uptick in LGBT identification nationwide. Whites and blacks have seen the least change. . . . . At 6.1%, Hispanics continue to be the single race or ethnic group most likely to identify as LGBT, while the 4.0 % of whites who identify as LGBT remains the lowest. LGBT identification among blacks and Asians, 4.9% and 5.0%, respectively, is essentially midway between the estimates for Hispanics and whites.

This 2017 update on LGBT identification underscores two significant conclusions. First, the percentage of adults in the U.S. who identify as LGBT has been increasing and is now at its highest point across the six years of Gallup's tracking of this measure. Second, the increase has been driven almost totally by millennials, whose self-reports of being LGBT have risen from 5.2% six years ago to 8.1% today.

As the older generations die off, the overall percentage of the population identifying as LGBT will continue to increase. Compounding this trend will be the fact that Millennials are the most LGBT accepting of the generations.  Christofascists will be fighting an increasingly fighting a losing rear guard action and, with luck, may in time find themselves faced with a harsh backlash by those in society not motivated by hate, bigotry, and the embrace of ignorance. who have had enough of false Christian nastiness.