The Gayest Generation
GLAAD has published Accelerating Acceptance 2017.
Millennials are significantly more likely than older generations to identify as LGBTQ and to be allies of the community, according to the survey.
The report revealed 20 percent of the youngest respondents (18-34) identify as LGBTQ, a notable increase from 12 percent of Generation X (ages 35-53) and 7 percent of the baby boomer generation (52-71). The survey also found that acceptance and understanding of the community has reached historic levels, particularly among young people.
An additional finding was that millennials are moving away from identifying within traditional binaries such as "man/woman" and "gay/straight." According to the report, 12 percent of millennials identify as either transgender or gender-nonconforming, compared to 6 percent in Generation X. And while more young people are identifying as LGBTQ, non-LGBTQ millennial respondents were actually less likely than their older counterparts to know someone who identifies as "gay" or lesbian." According to GLAAD's report, this indicates that their LGBTQ peers are opting to describe themselves in words outside of more traditional labels.
Millennials are more likely to identify as bisexual, asexual, and pansexual than other generations, too. And 12 percent of all millennials report being a gender identity other than cisgender, with 2 percent identifying as transgender. In comparison, only 1 percent of Generation X identifies as trans.
Apparently, there are a lot more non-binary people than most of us suppose.
Millennials and Gen Xers are also more likely to know someone who identifies as transgender, at 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively, compared to 13 percent of Boomers. And millennials are much more likely to be LGBTQ allies, too: 63 percent of non-LGBTQ millennials identify as allies, whereas 16 percent of straight and cisgender Boomers consider themselves “resisters” against LGBTQ rights.
More young people identifying outside of binaries means that we are at a place in our culture where youth today feel free and open to live their lives as their authentic selves. It is heartening to see the future of this country loosen the shackles of traditional identities and unapologetically embrace who they are.
People are complex, diverse and can't just be looped into two groups. The more that our society begins to learn and understand that, the more people are going to feel free to openly express themselves
--Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD
It should be noted that these numbers don’t necessarily reflect who is LGBTQ, but who feels open, safe, and comfortable enough to identify as LGBTQ.
The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of GLAAD.
The 2016 survey was fielded from November 2-4, 2016 among 2,037 adults ages 18 and older, including 1,708 adults who self-identified as heterosexual (i.e., the non-LGBTQ sample). 100 respondents were not classfied in regards to LGBTQA status because they declined to answer for gender identity and sexual orientation and therefore were not included in this analysis.
The survey further found that young people are much more likely to be allies of the LGBTQ community, with 63 percent of millennial respondents identifying themselves as allies. Older generations were still mostly accepting, with 53 percent of Generation X and 51 percent of baby boomers also considering themselves allies.
Still, nearly a third of Americans remain uncomfortable with their LGBTQ family members, coworkers, and neighbors. And as the Trump administration turns America in a new direction… will cultural acceptance of LGBTQ people continue to rise and will young LGBTQ people in particular continue to feel safe to come out and simply be who they are?
--GLAAD
Comments
The out-est generation, for sure.
Thanks, Robyn.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Societies in social transition are violent
note the Viet Nam era. The adults of that era were being made by a large, vocal minority of their children to admit that they were racist warmongers, and they responded defensively and violently. "Today" (unofficially starting with the election of Obama, and ironically exacerbated by his refusal to respond to the boiling racism) we have constant exposure of things like police violence, political corruption, and corporate genocidal evil. Because of that exposure it is not a minority of the young, it is a majority. Thus Trumpism.
American society is turning multicultural, multisexual, ethical, and socialist. But the generation in authority (the boomers) are therefore seen (correctly) as rapacious, intolerant and immoral, and they don't like being called out on it. They will, are, responding with violence and it will get worse. Before they're through Trump - and Nancy Pelosi - will go down in history like John Daly and Sheriff Clark.
It all goes back to my version of the 4 generation theory. The late 60s/70s generation were lotus eaters - the generation in power were survivers of the Great Depression and WW2, they wantedthe young to succeed, and therefore most young people were too content to be radical. This generation, the desperate victims of a ruling class that is defined by their compulsion to steal everything that isn't nailed down and destroy everything that resists it, doesn't have that luxury. We are headed for a much more turbulent era.
On to Biden since 1973
@doh1304 I was a hippie boomer.
I was a hippie boomer. You certainly aren't describing me or my life experience.
I guess I have to explain the 4 generation theory
You start with the Great Generation - they survived a depression and fought a great war. They came out of that experience determined that their children would benefit from what they fought for - hence the Boomers, or as I call them The Spoiled Brats. The next generation, the Hippies, reacted to the spoiled Boomers by being moral and philosophical. They were able to do this because the Great Generation were now in their fifties and in power - they protected them. The next generation attempts to build on the moral advances of the philosophical generation while also building on the material benefits the Great Ones left them, but once the Brats come of age and the Great Ones retire the pillaging starts, leading to depression and war, starting the cycle anew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
If you call yourself a "Hippie Boomer" you probably mean that you are a little too old to be a Hippie by generation, but are (and were) more moral, ethical, and enlightened than most of your cohort. From what I've read that describes you just fine.
On to Biden since 1973