In the largest single study of the distribution of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population in the U.S. on record, the Gallup pollsters have determined that just 3.4 percent of American adults self-identify as either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Gallup collected data for these findings from 121,290 interviews between June and September 2012.
Interestingly, nonwhites were more likely than white segments of the U.S. population to identify as LGBT. The survey results show that 4.6% of African-Americans identify as LGBT, along with 4.0% of Hispanics and 4.3% of Asians. Women are also slightly more likely to identify as LGBT than men, as are younger Americans (ages 18-29). Gallup’s analysis also shows that identification as LGBT is highest among Americans with the lowest levels of education — contrary to what other, more limited, studies have shown. LGBT identification is slightly higher in the East (3.7%) and the West (3.6%) than in the Midwest (3.4%) and the South (3.2%).
