Originally published at: More than 7 percent of U.S. adults now identify as LGBTQ, doubling in a decade | Boing Boing
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The fact that 21% of Zoomers identity as LGBTQ gives me a little hope for the future.
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Represent, folks! That’s how you win.
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Please, make more of them, lots more.
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Pretty sure the number must be higher but its still good to see that more people feel comfortable just being themselves
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All the cool kids are doing it.
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I for one welcome our new LGBQT+ overlords… 
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My guess is the number is probably closer to the gen z percentage.
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I remember being on a community history panel with an elder who pointed out that in the 1950’s there were only about 100 out people in the entire US.
To which I added that being queer was literally a capital offense in early Philadelphia.
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The conservatives say they think it’s a fad, but deep down they know the latter is the truth. It’s why they condone shaming and pushing people back into the closet so the normies don’t have to feel uncomfortable. They know they can’t “fix” it, really- just oppress it.
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Conservatives claim it’s a fad, and perhaps for some few kids it is
And they’re still going to be (wildly) outnumbered by people who are in the closet, even these days, so it’s still not an accurate number, just not in the direction the conservatives think (or rather want it to be)…
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My 12 year old tells me that about half of the kids in his class identify as LGT something, including a couple of trans kids. He also reports that there is still an occasional homophobic slur on the playground, but it generally gets condemned pretty quickly.
No idea how many of them are just trying it on, but I’m glad they feel comfortable doing so. This is a significant difference even from his older brother’s cohort (17), which was very clear that ‘gay is ok’ but didn’t have as many people ‘out’.
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I’ve heard some pearl clutching comments about this sort of things from parents. “So and so is just doing it for attention.” sort of thing.
I think the reality is that:
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Kids at that age are naturally trying to find themselves in all ways as the reach puberty.
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Sexuality is a spectrum, even though it has mostly been treated as a binary “choice” for most of recent history.
No one at that age knows exactly who they are or what they want to be. The fact that so many of them feel like they are able to express the possibility they are LGBTQ is a positive thing, IMO.
However it shakes out, if people around are supportive and “ok” with it, then it will lead to a lot more healthier and happier young adults.
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This can’t be said enough. As is sexual identity. Clouds and boxes again, but the fact that more kids are comfortable expressing that they just don’t fit into the binary boxes traditionally offered is a plus in my book. Progress is being made, and as usual, it is the young leading the charge.
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It was either in an article I read today, or something I read not that long ago, but the percentage of people identifying as some form of bisexual has increased the most.
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I certainly hope so. We are in a small town, though a relatively progressive one. I can only speculate about the city, but I hope things are improving there as well. Everyone is better off when they can be themselves, whatever that might be.
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I’ve thought for years the number of bisexual people was way, way higher than reported, just because there was so much pressure to Be Straight and if you weren’t going to Be Straight, Gay was as much of a political identity as a sexual one.
I’ve had so many friends have crises of meaning when discovering they were gay was a road to Damascus moment, only to discover they found a woman attractive later.
I’m just glad it’s being normalized to the point where that pressure is going away.
Still, even now, I hear people talk about the experience of not being ‘out to themselves’, just because they were attracted MORE to members of one gender and found themselves self-censoring. Or buying into the narrative of ‘experimenting’.
(Personally I’m just happy ‘asexual’ is a word in the discourse now. All through my twenties I alternated between trying to figure out how to describe my lack of interest, and getting frustrated by people saying “That’s not a thing! You’re just gay and in denial.”)
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I promise we’ll rule with extreme benevolence. First item on the agenda: dresses and skirts with pockets.
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