LGBTQ identification in U.S. ticks up to 7.1%

The percentage of U.S. adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has reached 7.1%, an all-time high, according to a new Gallup poll.

After showing perceptible increases in 2020 and 2021, the current percentage is double what it was when Gallup first measured LGBTQ identification a decade ago.

People born between 1997 and 2003, known as Generation Z, were most likely to identify as LGBTQ, roughly 21% said they are part of the LGBTQ community. That's almost more than double the rate for millennials, which is 10.8%. Less than 5% of older generations identify as LGBTQ, according to the poll.

The shift also comes at a time when LGBTQ rights are under attack in the USA, where there are more than 175 "anti-LGBTQ bills" being proposed in 32 Republicans states this year.

Gallup expects the trend of people identifying as LGBTQ to increase in the future as younger generations constitute a larger share of the total adult population in the U.S.