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Los Angeles Holds Gay Pride Weekend Celebrations

Source: David McNew / Getty

There isn’t much information or research available on LGBTQ+ Americans— which is why it was a job for two prestigious organizations to get done.

Whitman Insight Strategies and BuzzFeed News teamed up to conduct one of the most comprehensive surveys of its type about LGBTQ+ adults in the United States. The poll surveyed 880 LGBTQ+ Americans across the nation, asking over 100 questions concerning gender, sex, politics, family, and discrimination. Trans people are the smallest group in the survey, with only 51 respondents.

Here are some of the things we learned:

  • Fifty-five percent of the people who took the survey identified as a woman.
  • Twice as many people identify as gay rather than lesbian (32 percent in comparison to 16 percent).
  • Almost half (46 percent) of the LGBTQ+ community identifies as bisexual.
  • Only 6 percent of participants identify as queer/asexual/self-described.
  • Participants were 67 percent white and 33 percent non-white.
  • Fifty-five percent are presently out, 38 percent are only out to some people in certain places, and 7 percent are not out at all.
  • Bisexual people are the least out group, with 53 percent of out in “limited contexts” and 11 percent not out at all.
  • The average age people came out was at 21, even though the average age of knowing they were LGBTQ+ was 17, with gay and trans people being the youngest at 14 and lesbians at 19.
  • At work, overall 21 percent had to lie about being LGBTQ+, and 12 percent reported discrimination in the workplace based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
  • Three out of five LGBTQ+ Americans believe getting married is a “strong political/social statement.”
  • On legalizing polygamy, 31 percent of LGBTQ+ people support it while 42 percent are opposed, with most people supporting it identifying as transgender (55 percent), queer (44 percent) and bisexual (37 percent).
  • Most LGBTQ+ people have said they either don’t want kids or aren’t sure if they do, but 51 percent of bisexual people said they would have kids or like to.
  • Bisexual people are having more sex than their gay, lesbian and queer peers with 29 percent reporting having sex once or twice a week and 15 percent saying several times a week.
  • Sixty-five percent of LGBTQ+ people consider themselves Democrats, 21 percent are independents, 12 percent are Republican, and 3 percent have other affiliations.