The GenZ, more LGBT + than its elders? A study confirms this

For many reasons, it may seem that more and more people identify themselves as belonging to the LGBTI + community. In particular, thanks to a better social acceptance of the variety of sexualities and gender identities, less and less discriminated and criminalized throughout the Western world. And if studies to try to measure the size of the population remain few in France (a country that loves to rebel against communitarianism, except when it comes to encounters between heterosexual white men and women, or magazine covers), it is on the side of ours. British neighbors that we can best catch a rainbow temperature similar to what we can assume in France.

Young people, openly more queer than the elderly

According to the latest report from the LGBTI + Stonewall association published in early October 2022, in the UK, 5% of the population identify as bisexual, 3% as gay, 1% as lesbian, 7% as attracted to more than one gender, 2% as asexual and 1% as trans including non-binary. This is about 10% of the British population who do not identify as straight cis, which is hardly a surprising figure.

ButThe most interesting thing is in the disparities according to the generations. Within Gen Z (born after 1995), 71% of people identify as heterosexual compared to 91% of baby boomers (born between 1943 and 1960). 14% of younger people identify as bisexual or pansexual compared to 2% of older people born after World War II.

Is the world getting stranger or just more tolerant?

So, on this International Day of come out what is October 11, 2022, is the world becoming more and more LGBTI +? It is more likely that it is becoming less hostile (or so it seems) to these long repressed identities. In this context of improvement of rights and their exercise, we are able to express ourselves a little more freely, from generation to generation.

We don’t even fall into the afterlife, and let’s remember the paradox of visibility : As people assume more and more, LGBT phobic violence also grows. According to the British government, hate crimes increased significantly by 21% between 2021 and 2022, of which + 41% hate crimes related to sexual orientation and + 56% concerning trans identities. On May 17, 2022, the international day against homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia and transphobia, the French association SOS Homophobia made a similar observation in France: expressions of hatred against LGBTI + people are also intensifying in France.

Front page photo credit: Gustavo Fring of Pexels via Canva.