More Americans identify as LGBTQ+ than ever before, poll finds

The proportion of American adults who identify as LGBTQ+ has risen to 9.3% of the population, according to a Gallup Poll released Thursday.

By Kristen Rogers, CNN
Thursday February 20, 2025

The finding represents an increase of more than 1 percentage point from 2023’s estimate. The proportion of the population identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or non-heterosexual has nearly doubled since 2020 and has jumped from 3.5% since 2012, when it was first measured by Gallup, an analytics and advisory company based in Washington, DC.

Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, via email.

“If there is one thing that people should take away from these new findings, it is this: LGBTQ+ people have always been here, and we will continue to be here, no matter what laws or policies attempt to erase us,” 

The boost has a lot to do with young people, who have been much more likely than older generations to identify as something other than heterosexual, Gallup said.

“More than one in five Gen Z adults — those born between 1997 and 2006, who were between the ages of 18 and 27 in 2024 — identify as LGBTQ+,” according to Gallup’s report. “Each older generation of adults, from millennials to the Silent Generation, has successively lower rates of identification, down to 1.8% among the oldest Americans, those born before 1946.”

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There are currently 390 bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.

“Regardless of a person’s politics, I hope this poll helps lawmakers and leaders across the U.S. see LGBTQ+ people for who we are: people who exist and belong in every community, in every corner of this country,” Black said. “We just want to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, like anyone else.”