Gender, Sex, and Gen Z: 2021 Gallup poll

Samantha Schmidt, Wash Po, 2/24/21; Crystal Q., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What am I or how I identify? There's a big difference. I don't know what I am, just what I do.

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1 in 6 Gen Z adults are LGBT

Nonbinary Jasper Swartz, 16 (Bonnie Jo Mount)

Jasper Swartz of Takoma Park recently realized that nearly all of their friends are “queer in some way.”

They were 8 years old when same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland, about 12 when they realized they were attracted to girls, and 14 when they came out as "nonbinary," using they/them pronouns. Swartz grew up scrolling through gay memes on Instagram and following transgender influencers on YouTube.

How do I present the data to be pro-LGBT?

They attended a diverse public middle school in Montgomery County, Md., that taught lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity in health class.

“But at that point,” Swartz said, “I was already familiar with the stuff they were teaching.”

Swartz is a member of Generation Z, a group of young Americans that is breaking from binary notions of gender and sexuality — and is far more likely than older generations to identify as something other than heterosexual.

• [Swartz is not an adult and therefore was not part of this study. The data is being extrapolated. It applies to Gen Z adults, as they participated, not those under 18. It would seem more applicable to Gen Z youth.]

One in six adults in Generation Z identifies as LGBT, according to survey data released early Wednesday from Gallup, providing some of the most detailed and up-to-date estimates yet on the size and makeup of the nation’s LGBT population.

Gallup’s latest survey data, based on more than 15,000 interviews conducted throughout 2020 with Americans age 18 and older, found that 5.6 percent of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, up from 4.5 percent in Gallup’s findings based on 2017 data.

At a time when the majority of Americans support gay rights, more than half a decade after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, it’s clear that a growing percentage of the U.S. population identifies as LGBT, Gallup’s researchers said.

What’s less clear is why. Is it because of a real shift in sexual orientation and gender identity, or is it because of a greater willingness among young people to identify as LGBT?

If the latter is true, it’s possible the latest findings are undercounting the actual size of the population, Gallup said. Moreover, the 2020 survey data captures only the oldest segment of Generation Z, those ages 18 to 23. More

• Americans’ views flipped on gay rights. How did minds [exposed to CIA propaganda] change so quickly?
• LGBT demographics of the United States (Wiki)