{"id":276542,"date":"2025-10-08T13:11:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?post_type=short-read&p=276542"},"modified":"2025-10-08T13:12:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:12:01","slug":"more-than-9-in-10-lgbtq-adults-in-the-us-are-out-to-someone","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/10\/08\/more-than-9-in-10-lgbtq-adults-in-the-us-are-out-to-someone\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 9 in 10 LGBTQ adults in the U.S. are \u2018out\u2019 to someone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day, an observance that dates back to 1988<\/a> and is intended to support LGBTQ people in sharing this part of their identity with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, 96% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer adults in the United States say they have told someone that they are or might be LGBTQ, according to a Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted in January. Another 3% say they haven\u2019t come out to anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, 8% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a separate Center survey conducted in summer 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About this research<\/strong><\/strong><\/summary>\n

Ahead of National Coming Out Day, Pew Research Center sought to explore LGBTQ Americans\u2019 experiences with coming out, including how old they were when they first came out and whether they\u2019ve felt accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do this?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Center conducts high-quality research to inform the public, journalists and decision-makers. Studying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans\u2019 experiences is part of our long-standing research on demographic and social trends and identities. These types of analyses allow us to provide a composite snapshot of American identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Pew Research Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we do this?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Most of the data for this analysis comes from a survey of 3,959 LGBTQ U.S. adults conducted from Jan. 8 to 19, 2025. Links to other sources are available in the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sample for the January survey includes respondents from three different sources: the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), SSRS\u2019s Opinion Panel (OP), and Ipsos\u2019 Knowledge Panel (KP). The ATP is a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey included oversamples of transgender adults and lesbian, gay or bisexual adults who are married or living with a partner from Ipsos\u2019 KP. Like the ATP, the OP and KP are probability-based online survey web panels recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respondents indicated whether they are\u00a0a man, a woman or nonbinary \u2013 or describe their gender in some other way. They were asked separately to indicate their sexual orientation, if they are transgender and if they consider themselves queer. Gender was collected for analysis and not as a screening question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. LGBTQ adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the questions used for this analysis<\/a>, the topline<\/a> and the survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This analysis was made possible with support from the Trusts and from the People & Voices Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

When did LGBTQ Americans first think they might be LGBTQ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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58% of LGBTQ Americans thought they might be LGBTQ before age 14, but far fewer came out to someone when they were that young<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
% of LGBTQ U.S. adults who say they first __ gay or lesbian, bisexual, queer, or transgender when they were \u2026<\/em><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\"Chart\"<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
Note: The question about when respondents first felt they might be gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgender included, \u201ceven if you didn\u2019t use those words to describe yourself at the time.\u201d Shares of respondents who didn\u2019t answer or said they weren\u2019t sure are not shown. Share who say they haven\u2019t told anyone they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgender is shown but not labeled.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
Source: Survey of LGBTQ U.S. adults conducted Jan. 8-19, 2025.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
PEW RESEARCH CENTER<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Share this chart<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t