How Many Gen Z Adults are Self-Identifying as Members of the LGBTQIA2S+ Community? 28%!

Not that I should be surprised, but I am about the amazing number of Gen Z people who self-identify as members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. From Axios (as reported on Joe.My.God): "About 28% of Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQIA2S+, compared with 16% of millennials, 7% of Generation X (born 1965-1980), 4% of baby boomers (1946-1964), and 4% of the Silent Generation (1928-1945).”

Not only that, but Gen Z adults are less likely than older generations to join an established religion, while more likely to identify as LGBTQIA2S+, and generally are less likely to be Republican. “Gen Z adults--who now make up about 1 in 6 of the Americans eligible to vote--are more politically left (Democrats) than older Americans, with 43% of them identifying as liberal.” 

It is also reported that Gen Z adults are accelerating Americans’ move away from Christianity and toward being unaffiliated with any religion.

Here’s a link to the article on Joe.My.God.: https://www.joemygod.com/2024/01/new-survey-28-of-gen-z-adults-identify-as-lgbtq/

Again, I assume that by these numbers--that there is a drop off of religious identification and a rise in self-identification as being part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community--are simply a correlational relationship and not a causal link (this begat that). But perhaps, just perhaps, because Gen Z people are not attending religious organizations that make being part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community is considered a “sin” and “evil,” that one must hide and not self-identify with a group simply known as “sinners,” like many of us in the Silent and Boomer generations. Does less religious identification increase those who are more honest about being part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community? When growing up, I always remembered that the statistic was that 5-10% of the population self-identified as LGBTQIA2S+ people. I always thought that statistic was too low to imagine. I do think that there are more people who are LGBTQIA2S+ but would not admit to it because of societal and religious pressure not to self-identify. With 28% of the Gen Z adults self-identifying as LGBTQIA2S+, I think I was right all along 25%+ of the general population in the US is LGBTQIA2S+. Isn’t that possible? Probable?

Hmmmm...

May it be so.



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