Despite Republican Attacks, Americans Are Queerer Than Ever In Latest Poll
According to a Gallup Poll released on Thursday, more Americans identify as LGBTQ+ than ever before, despite heavy attacks from right-wing politicians.
A new Gallup poll released Thursday reveals that despite a historic wave of legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, the number of Americans identifying as LGBTQ+ continues to grow. Over the past few years, right-wing politicians have introduced and passed more bills targeting LGBTQ+ people than at any other point in U.S. history—bills that restrict discussions of same-sex relationships in schools, limit access to gender-affirming healthcare, undermine passport rights, legalize conversion therapy, and erase LGBTQ+ history from curricula. Yet, rather than forcing people back into the closet, these policies appear to have had the opposite effect: more Americans than ever before openly identify as LGBTQ+.
According to the Gallup poll released today, 9.3% of U.S. adults identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or another non-heterosexual identity in 2024. This marks a nearly twofold increase since 2020, the year many of the most aggressive legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ rights began in earnest. Among those surveyed, 1.3% of U.S. adults identified as transgender—up from 0.9% in 2023—suggesting that previous estimates placing the transgender population at just 0.5% of Americans may have significantly underestimated its size.
You can see a full breakdown of the identification rates here
The largest increases from the previous survey were among gay and bisexual individuals, whose identification rates rose by 0.6% and 0.8% since 2023, respectively. This directly contradicts the widely debunked “social contagion” theory often cited by anti-trans legislators, which falsely claims that transgender identity spreads through peer influence. Instead, the data reveals a broader rise in LGBTQ+ identification across all categories, suggesting that the primary driving force behind these numbers is not social contagion but increased societal acceptance, allowing more people to come out and live authentically than ever before.
Further supporting the idea that increased social acceptance is driving the rise in LGBTQ+ identification, the Gallup poll found that Gen Z and Millennial respondents report the highest rates of LGBTQ+ identification. Among Gen Z respondents, 23.1% identify as LGBTQ+, while 14.2% of Millennials do the same. Notably, other surveys have consistently shown that these generations also demonstrate higher levels of acceptance toward LGBTQ+ people, suggesting a correlation between greater societal acceptance and a growing willingness to openly identify as part of the community.
The rise in LGBTQ+ identification is occurring alongside some of the most aggressive attacks on the community in modern history. Over the past three years, more than 1,300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across the United States, with many specifically targeting transgender individuals and making it more difficult for LGBTQ+ people to live openly. Teachers have been fired under “Don’t Say Gay” laws simply for mentioning same-sex spouses or reading books featuring LGBTQ+ characters—books that are now banned outright in school and community libraries. Some states have severely restricted or outright blocked transgender people from accessing necessary medical care. Meanwhile, the federal government, under the Trump administration, has weaponized its authority to roll back LGBTQ+ protections through sweeping “anti-DEI” policies, further entrenching discrimination at the national level.
If these measures are meant to silence LGBTQ+ people and push them back into the closet, they are failing. Despite unprecedented legislative attacks and political rhetoric designed to marginalize queer and trans people, more Americans are openly identifying as LGBTQ+ than ever before. The wave of anti-LGBTQ+ laws does not necessarily reflect growing hostility from the general public but rather a reactionary backlash against increasing social acceptance. That acceptance—deeply embedded in younger generations—will be crucial in resisting and ultimately overcoming the current wave of discrimination.
If you strike me down, I’ll become gayer than you can possibly imagine.
To me there is no question that the fierce anti-LGBTQ+ attacks of the last several years are a backlash of the right wing against societal progress, and specifically an attempt to scapegoat trans people in retaliation for the nationwide legalization of gay marriage. It is no accident that the modern-day wave of attacks started after the 2015 Obergefell SCOTUS decision. Much of this has been engineered by right-wing extremist groups and think tanks.