Adults who identify as LGBT in US increases

WASHINGTON — Adults who identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) is on the rise in the United States, according to a recent Gallup poll. Ten million Americans (4.1 percent) now identify as LGBT, as opposed to 3.5 percent in 2012.

Based on interviews from a random sample of more than 1.6 million adults, millennials (those born between 1980 and 1998) are the steam behind most of the increase in LGBT self-identification. The portion of millennials identifying as LGBT rose from 5.8 percent in 2012 to 7.3 percent in 2016. Gen Xers (those born between 1965 and 1979) maintained a 3.2 percent identification and baby boomers shrank from 2.7 percent to 2.4 percent, according to the findings.

The poll also found that LGBT identification increased more in women than it did in men, with 3.5 percent of women identifying themselves as LGBT in 2012 and 4.4 percent in 2016, where 3.4 percent of men identified as LGBT in 2012 and rose only to 3.7 percent in 2016.

Looking at racial and ethnic lines, the largest increase since 2012 in LGBT identification occurred among Asians (3.5 percent to 4.9 percent) and Hispanics (4.3 percent to 5.4 percent), Gallup reported. (TAB)