LibGuides: LGBTQIA+ Resources: LGBTQIA+ Community

"LGBTQ+ people are here - in every town, in every city, in each and every ZIP code. This data shows what we’ve suspected: our community is larger and more widespread than we could have known up to this point. We’re proud to bring this data to light and set the stage for a future where all the millions of LGBTQ+ people in America enjoy full legal and lived equality. I commend the Biden administration and the U.S. Census Bureau for finally allowing researchers to count us, and look forward to seeing the LGBTQ+ community counted in further studies."

Joni Madison, Human Rights Campaign Interim President

The Human Rights Campaign's 2021 report, WE ARE HERE: UNDERSTANDING THE SIZE OF THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY, takes a look at the data from the Household Pulse Survey, a national household probability survey administered by the Census Bureau, which suggests that roughly 20 million adults in the United States could be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. Millions more could identify with terms more expansive than these four, but it’s still unknown exactly how they identify. Here are some of the report's findings:

Approximately 8% of respondents to the Household Pulse Survey self-selected that they were lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This suggests that 20 million adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
An additional 2% of participants identify with a sexual orientation that is something else other than lesbian, gay, bisexual or straight.
The data on transgender participants also suggest that more than 2 million adults (more than 1%) in America could identify as transgender.
An additional 2% of participants said that none of the terms “cisgender male,” “cisgender female” or “transgender” described their gender.
Bisexual people comprised the largest contingent of LGBTQ+ people, representing about 4% of participants, next to gay and lesbian adults who comprise 3% of Household Pulse Survey participants.
LGBTQ+ people live in every community across every state. Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas have the largest number of LGBTQ+ people who responded to the survey residing in their states.
California (approximately 2.6 million LGBTQ+ adults) and Texas (approximately 1.7 million LGBTQ+ adults) are the two states with the largest number of LGBTQ+ people who responded to the survey. Less populated states overall, such as Arizona, had roughly 600,000 LGBTQ+ people in their sample, representing larger overall percentages of their population. LGBTQ+ adults in Arizona made up 10% of participating Arizonians in the Household Pulse Survey, compared to a more populated state like Florida where they make up 7% of participants.

Equality Snapshot: State by State

SNAPSHOT: LGBTQ EQUALITY BY STATE
The Movement Advancement Project (MAP) tracks over 50 different LGBTQ-related laws and policies. This map shows the overall policy tallies (as distinct from sexual orientation or gender identity tallies) for each state, the District of Columbia, and the five populated U.S. territories. A state’s policy tally scores the laws and policies within each state that shape LGBTQ people's lives, experiences, and equality. The major categories of laws covered by the policy tally include: Relationship & Parental Recognition, Nondiscrimination, Religious Exemptions, LGBTQ Youth, Health Care, Criminal Justice, and Identity Documents.

Race

Race and Well-Being Among LGBT Adults
This interactive highlights key data points from the Williams Institute’s LGBT Well-Being at the Intersection of Race report series. The prevalence of key socioeconomic and well-being measures across six racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. are presented, as well as an overall estimate for people of color. The original reports cover a broad range of topics; however, this interactive focuses on areas where differences and similarities by race and LGBT status are most notable.
Racial Differences Among LGBT Adults in the US
This January 2022 Brief from UCLA School of Law Williams Institute uses data from the Gallup Survey and the Generations and Transpop studies, and examines whether adult LGBT people of color differ from White LGBT people in several areas of health and socioeconomic well-being.

Well-Being

Discrimination and Barriers to Well-Being: The State of the LGBTQI+ Community in 2022
As part of an ongoing effort to understand the lives and experiences of LGBTQI+ communities during this period, the Center for American Progress, in conjunction with the independent and nonpartisan research group NORC at the University of Chicago, conducted the 2022 installment of its survey of LGBTQI+ adults in the United States. The nationally representative survey includes interviews with 1,828 self-identified LGBTQI+ adults and 1,542 self-identified non-LGBTQI+ adults ages 18 and older, recruited and administered through NORC’s AmeriSpeak online panel and conducted May 27, 2022, to June 23, 2022. The most critical takeaway from CAP’s 2022 survey is that LGBTQI+ individuals continue to experience significantly higher rates of discrimination than non-LGBTQI+ individuals, a trend that holds true in virtually every setting surveyed—including health care, employment, housing, and public spaces.
Identity, Stress, and Health of LGBTQ People in the US
This data interactive from the Wiliams Institute summarizes key findings on a variety of LGBTQ-relevant topics from the report LGBTQ People in the US Select Findings from the Generations and TransPop Studies. Findings are presented from three major SOGI groups—transgender people of all sexual identities, referred to as transgender people; non-transgender sexual minority women, referred to as lesbian, bisexual, or queer (LBQ cis women); and non-transgender sexual minority men, referred to as gay, bisexual, or queer (GBQ cis men). Also reported is data on the collective sample across these SOGI groups, referring to these groups collectively as LGBTQ people.

Timelines

(Photo: Wikipedia Commons)

THE LGBT MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES
The Generations Study's timeline of the social developments in the LGBT community from the 1960s to the present.
LGBTQ Rights Milestones Fast Facts
CNN takes a look at LGBTQ milestones in the United States beginning in 1924 when the first documented gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights, was founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago through 2022 when the Social Security Administration announced that people can now choose their sex marker in their Social Security records.
LGBTQ History in Government Documents: Timeline of Documents
From UC San Diego, primary sources documenting the U.S. federal government's stance on issues related to the LGBT movement from the 1800s to the present day.
LGBTQ+ History Timeline
In honor of LGBTQ History Month (October), Gladstone Institute’s LGBTQ+ community group put together a timeline of some of the major milestones in LGBTQ history.