Gay and lesbian adults identify more with straight and bisexual individuals, nearly doubling in percentage compared to what they have in common with transgender individuals, according to a new survey.
It's approaching 10 years to the day since the U.S. Supreme Court guaranteed rights to same-sex marriage in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, effectively raising public awareness and sentiment towards gay unions. The Trump administration successfully ran on LGBTQ issues including limiting genders to two (male and female), and banning male-born transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
What To Know A new survey published Thursday by the Pew Research Center looked into how LGBTQ adults see the impact of Obergefell, how they view social acceptance for LGBTQ adults more broadly, and how their personal experiences align with public opinion.
About half of gay and lesbian adults said they have a great deal or a fair amount in common with bisexual people (50 percent) and straight people (51 percent), compared to 28 percent who said they have a lot in common with transgender people.
While roughly 70 percent of transgender adults say they have feared for their personal safety at some point, roughly 52 percent of gay or lesbian adults and 28 percent of bisexual adults said the same.
While transgender respondents said they had more in common with gay or lesbian individuals and people who are bisexual, both at 63 percent, just 27 percent of them said they had a lot in common with most people who are straight.
Overall, consistency has continued in terms of American sentiment overall on gay marriage—climbing from 31 percent of support prior to legalization in 2004, to 55 percent support in 2015. In 2023, about 63 percent supported it.
While most surveyed LGBTQ adults said there is more acceptance today compared with 10 years ago for gay, bisexual and transgender individuals—with an expectation of even more acceptance a decade from now—they acknowledge that different groups under the LGBTQ umbrella are viewed differently in America.