Nearly 1 in 5 LGBTQ adults have never come out, Gallup survey finds

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Though LGBTQ adults say society has become more accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people in the last 10 years, nearly 1 in 5, 18%, say they have never come out to anyone, according to a new Gallup survey.

“Roughly 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ Americans are comfortable telling Gallup that they’re LGBTQ+, but not comfortable telling others,” said Justin McCarthy, an analyst at Gallup.

That rate is higher for bisexual adults, with 23% reporting that they aren’t out to anyone, compared to 5% of gay and lesbian adults. When broken down by gender, 16% of LGBTQ men and 19% of LGBTQ women reported that they aren’t out to anyone. Though trans Americans were included in the data, due to sample size limitations Gallup was not able to report their specific experiences.

McCarthy noted that the majority, about 70%, of LGBTQ adults nationally and U.S. adults overall report that societal acceptance of LGBTQ people has “gotten a lot” or “gotten a little” better in the past 10 years.

However, “just because they acknowledge societal changes doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have any personal experiences of discrimination,” which 1 in 4 LGBTQ people reported experiencing in the past year, with more than one-third, 36%, of gay and lesbian adults reporting such experiences.

LGBTQ adults reported knowing they were LGBTQ at similar ages across generations: 14 years old for respondents ages 18-29, 15 for those 30-64, and 16 or those 65 and older, the survey found.

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