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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and for our last segment today, a call in for listeners in Generation Z that's 23 years old or younger, you know who you are, to tell us whether you identify as LGBT, because a new Gallup survey found that at least one in six Gen Z adults do. 646-435-7280. It's newsworthy because 6% is a higher number than any other generation, and experts think it's probably going to climb even higher as more Gen Z kids, because there are a lot of Gen Z minors still, become adults.

Gen Z listeners, tell us about your own identification, if you're publicly out, and if you think it is more prevalent among you and your peers, and if so, why? You do the analysis as to why you think 6% of Gen Z, 18 to 23-year-olds, say they identify as something in the LGBTQ areas when not as many people from older generations do. 646-435-7280. If you're a member of Generation Z, 23 years old or younger.

For those of you who get confused by the different names for specific generations, Gen Z refers to people born in the mid to late '90s to the early 2010s. Roughly ages 12 to 23 right now. The Gallup study conducted more than 15,000 interviews throughout last year with American adults, meaning only members of Gen Z aged 18 to 23 could participate, but while the report focuses only on adults, many experts are predicting the number of LGBT adults will only increase in the future because of a younger generation that is more accepting of different gender and sexual identities.

If you're listening and this sounds like you, a person in Gen Z who identifies as LGBT in any way, why do you think this number continues to grow among your generation? Whether you identify as transgender, bisexual, asexual, non-binary, anything, are you noticing any common trends or values among you and your peers that just makes it easier to be yourself without any fear compared to the past at least? Why do you think that is? 646-435-7280.

The survey by Gallup also found more women tend to be bisexual, call themselves bisexual, than men, and some other things that we can get into, but Gen Z listeners, the phones are yours, 646-435-7280 on if you identify as LGBT, and why you think it's more prevalent in your generation than among older folks. We'll take your calls after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. As we go to your Gen Z calls on LGBTQ experience and identification, let me just straighten out one little piece of number salad that I got lost in there a moment ago. To be very clear, it is one in six, as we said at the beginning, Gen Z adults identifying as LGBT, one in six. That's about 16%, and that compares to about 6% of the overall adult population. That's the disparity, and that's why it's so interesting, because about 6% of all adults identify as some form of LGBT, 6% of all adults, 16%, or one in six, of Gen Z adults, those between 18 and 23, so just to clarify that.

Alex in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Alex.

Alex: Hi, Brian. Huge fan. I definitely agree with that analysis. I personally do identify as LGBT, and I see that a lot among my peers, especially due to the reach that pop culture has, especially in movies and media and music. I see that in a lot of my peers. I'm actually 23 years old, so I'm right at the threshold. Especially for anyone mingling in the earlier years, I definitely see that sense of acceptance, and even less amount of fear to just journey, even if they don't directly identify as LGBT, but they're not as afraid to explore that area.

Brian Lehrer: Because you see yourself reflected in pop culture, and it gives you permission to be yourself.

Alex: Definitely, and even a lot of the discussions being made about those changes as well. I think one of the more recent examples is the company that, I want to say they make them as a potato head toy. They are trying to lean towards our area and reassess if they want to make it a, I forget the wording, but gender neutral. That's a big topic now. Those kinds of steps that companies and media make are important, and it helps us feel more comfortable.

Brian Lehrer: Alex, thank you so much for calling us. Call again.

Joe, in San Diego, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joe.

Joe: Hey, yes, I think definitely building off of Alex's sentiment or point about having more representation in entertainment and media. Another thing that I wanted to add was just having more accountability in our generation that is so much so embedded in social media. There are more LGBT+ friendly spaces in these social spaces, and I think that the anti-LGBT+ sentiment is very much frowned upon. No one, I feel like, openly wants to express that they're anti us as people because they're going to be pulled out, I feel.

Brian Lehrer: If the older generations aren't identifying that way as much, at least to the Gallup posters, how much do you feel it's just a matter of not being willing to say something publicly because they're afraid people will judge them, as opposed to not even acknowledging it to themselves? Because in the gay rights movement, in general, and the gay marriage movement, a lot of it is based on, this is just who we are. We're born this way, and so don't discriminate against us, but it can't be that 6% of people in your parents' generation were born that way, and 16% of people in your generation were born that way. There's something about experience there, you know what I mean?

Joe: Yes, I think it comes back to the experience of being welcomed in your community and in your home or through social media. If you don't have that space to feel welcomed as being yourself, you're going to tell yourself that maybe there's something wrong with you, and you end up not wanting to come out or suppressing that part of yourself.

Brian Lehrer: Joe, thanks so much for calling in. Call us again.

Nano in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nano.

Nano: Hello. Hi. I'm big fan, by the way.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Nano: I think in our generation, there's much more acceptance and knowledge, and much more open-minded than previous generations. The media and support that has been going around is also very accepting. I, myself identify as gender fluid and bisexual, and I definitely did have some internalized like hatred towards that when I was younger, but as you learn and as you grow and as you get older, you would rather be happier as yourself. I think that's what's been happening a lot with the [unintelligible 00:09:19]

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please call us again.

A few more numbers from the Gallup poll of the Gen Z adults who identified as LGBT in the survey, 72% of them identified as bisexual, meaning nearly 12% of all Gen Z adults identified as bisexual, and about 2% each identified as gay, lesbian, or transgender, and to compare to other generations, only half of millennial respondents identified as both LGBT and bisexual among that group who identified as any of those. The number was even lower in older age groups. There is the divide between men and women, The Washington Post analyzed the Gallup study incited research from the Williams Institute at UCLA, which found that a key to the surging growth of the LGBT community self-identified is from females. More than 1 in 10 US high school youth identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and among them, 75% are female, and 77% of those identify as bisexual. Some more data from Gallup, and from the Washington Post analysis of the Gallup data.

Seth in Philadelphia, you're on WNYC. Hi, Seth. Thanks for calling in.

Seth: Hi, Brian. Yes, I just wanted to bring up the point that I think it's really important to remember the impact that the AIDS epidemic had on the queer community, where so many of our queer elders died because of AIDS. A lot of the activism that came out of that epidemic really allowed so many more people today to be out and proud with their identities, seeing the strength of older queer people who had to fight for their lives in a lot of different meanings of the word to be queer in America.

Brian Lehrer: Seth, thank you very much. We're going to sneak in one parent's perspective, because Vanessa in Redding, Connecticut, says her 18-year-old daughter is logged into remote school. Vanessa, you want to give us a parent's view on this?

Vanessa: Sure. Hi, Brian. It's funny, I asked my daughter who is trans and bi, why she feels that more of her generation is coming out, and she said because they feel comfortable. I noticed that since we came out publicly, many, many parents and other kids are reaching out to our family because they are going through similar experiences. The kids nowadays in school, like even in middle school, they don't come out as gay or bi. They just are, and they just start dating somebody else. They don't actually make a big deal about it, and I find that's really wonderful because it's much more accepting from their generation.

Brian Lehrer: It might also mean that your generation is doing some work too, if the Gen Z, LGBT population is not as afraid of telling their parents as previous generations were.

Vanessa: Yes, I agree. I think that all the parents that I do talk to, everyone is supportive, and it shocks me when I hear there are people out there who aren't supportive, and that leads to homeless youth, especially in the trans community, which I just couldn't imagine for my own child, but I hope so for Gen X.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks. Thanks, Vanessa. Thanks for finishing it off. Thanks for all your calls on this, everybody.

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