How many adults and youth identify as LGBTQ in the United States?

 

Gallup finds 9.3% of United States adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than straight or heterosexual. The percentage has more than doubled since Gallup first measured LGBTQ identification in 2012.

According to the report, LGBTQ people make up just 1.8% of the Silent Generation, which comprises of those born 1945 or earlier, compared to 3% for baby boomers (born 1946-1964), 5.1% for Generation X (born 1965-1980), 14% for Millennials (born 1981-1996), and 23.1% for Generation Z (born 1997-2006).

The report’s age differences are consistent with other statistical reports about demographics in the broader LGBTQ community. Nearly three million people 13 years and older in the U.S. identify as transgender, according to a new report published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

This other report found that roughly 1% of the U.S. population above the age of 13 identifies as transgender. In total, the report concluded that there are at least 2.8 million individuals in the U.S. who identify as transgender and are 13 years of age or older.

Notably, younger age groups are significantly overrepresented in the overall breakdown of transgender Americans by age, according to the report. Roughly 724,000 people between the ages of 13 and 17 identify as transgender, representing 3.3% of youth, compared to a total of 2.1 million trans adults 18 years of age or older, about 0.8% of adults. 

We won't be removed!!!

DeSantis orders cities to remove Pride crosswalks in Florida

 

The Florida Department of Transportation under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a letter to Delray Beach ordering city officials to remove a mural in the roadway. A similar letter also arrived in Key West.

"As required by state law, if the pavement markings are not removed by September 3, 2025, the Florida Department of Transportation will remove them by any appropriate method necessary without further notice,” the FDOT letter states. “You are further notified that if the markings are removed by the Department, all costs associated with the removal will be assessed against City of Delray Beach.”

That message came days after city officials voted to defy direction from the state. Other Florida cities like Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach caved immediately after the state issued its directive.

DeSantis' Administration has yet to pick a fight with some of Florida’s biggest cities with rainbow sidewalks. Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando all have rainbow crosswalks and intersections, but have yet to endure such heavy-handed tactics from the state.

A poll commissioned by GLAAD reveals broad concerns of LGBTQ people and ally in Florida about legislation stripping away their rights. Florida’s Republican passed bills banning LGBTQ-related conversation in schools, the known “Don’t Say Gay" bill. Ever since law was passed, DeSantis has turned Florida into a test kitchen for anti-LGBTQ restrictions that have since spread to other states.

Freedom for Enes now!!!

 

Türkiye authorities has arrested an LGBTQ youth activist over criticism he made abroad at the Council of Europe about the repression of opponents by President Tayyip Erdogan's government.

Enes Hocaogullari, 23, gave a speech in Strasbourg criticising police violence and detentions plus democratic backsliding in Türkiye, saying: "The youth has had enough ... We are ready to go on the streets to regain our freedoms."

He was detained on arrival from France at Ankara's Esenboga Airport pending trial on charges of publicly disseminating misleading information and inciting hatred and enmity. The Council of Europe said the charges against Hocaogullari were a reprisal for his words and urged his immediate release.

After a spectacular march in 2014 of more than 100,000 people in Istanbul, the Turkish authorities have banned it year after year, officially for security reasons. Turkish President Erdogan and his cabinet have become increasingly more hostile towards the LGBTQ community and their rights.

LGBTQ people in Türkiye are not protected from discrimination in employment, education, housing, health care, public accommodations, or credit. 

#FreeEnesNow

The NFL releases a video supporting LGBTQ community

 

The U.S. National Football League (NFL) has released a new video "Football is for everyone" that unequivocally embraces the LGBTQ community, stating that football is gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, beautiful and other descriptors. 

The NFL intention with the video is to send a strong message of acceptance from the league to fans, players and coaches. The video is a direct response to the coming out of Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib.

The film also features The Trevor Project to highlight life-saving resources for LGTBQ youth.

You can watch the video below:

Positive attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people in China

 

Researchers from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, surveyed Chinese public about their familiarity with and acceptance of LGBTQ people. 

This study examines participants’ attitudes toward policy issues such as discrimination at work, same-sex marriage, and same-sex couples raising children in China.

Responding to a survey on attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people in China, 53 per cent said queer people should be accepted in society, which flies in the face of some of the country’s restrictive laws, which flies in the face of some of the country’s restrictive laws. 

A similar number felt same-sex couples should be able to marry, while 46 per cent said they would personally attend a same-sex wedding. 48 per cent believed gay couples would make capable parents.

62 per cent of those surveyed said LGBTQ+ people should be treated fairly at work, and 68 per cent felt the government should improve protections for queer students.

According to the study, at least 70 per cent of Chinese people know at least one person who is out as LGBTQ+, while 47 per cent know at least two.

Homosexuality has been legal in China since 1997, after the country updated its penal code. However, same-sex marriage is still illegal, and there are virtually no protections for LGBTQ+ people.

Same-sex couples have been able to apply for a “guardianship appointment” since 2017, which affords them certain rights to share assets and inheritance, but they are not allowed to adopt.

Read the whole report here.

Democratic states sue Trump admin over ending healthcare access to trans youth

 

Sixteen states are suing the Trump administration to defend transgender youth healthcare access, which has rapidly eroded across the US due to threats from the federal government.

Trump’s policies are an attempt to impose a nationwide ban on the treatment for people under 19, and that’s unlawful because there’s no federal statute that bans providing the care to minors. 

The Democratic attorneys general of California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Connecticut are leading the lawsuit, which challenges the president’s efforts to eradicate vital medical treatments for trans youth.

The complaint targets one of Trump’s first executive orders, called for federal funds to be withheld from hospitals that provide the treatments. Those gender-affirming treatments, which are accessed by a small fraction of youth in the US, have for years been the standard of care endorsed by major US medical associations.

"The federal government is running a cruel and targeted harassment campaign against providers who offer lawful, lifesaving care to children," New York Attorney General Letitia James, said in a statement. 

"This administration is ruthlessly targeting young people who already face immense barriers just to be seen and heard, and are putting countless lives at risk in the process," she added.