More US adults identify as LGBTQ

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From CNN

CNN)More adults in the US say they identify as LGBTQ than they did a decade ago, according to a new Gallup poll, a trend largely propelled by Gen Z adults.

The percentage of adults who told Gallup they identify as LGBTQ has doubled since 2012, per the polling firm, from 3.5% of Americans then to 7.1% of Americans in 2021.

The rise can be attributed to Gen Z, according to Gallup -- about 21% of adults born between 1997 and 2003 identify as LGBTQ. Meanwhile, 10.5% of millennials, the generation that includes adults born between 1981 and 1996, identify as LGBTQ, per the poll, and the percentages dwindle among the preceding generations.

 

Among LGBTQ adults in the US, more than half of them -- nearly 57% -- said they were bisexual, according to Gallup's poll. That encompasses about 4% of all US adults. Gallup reported that 20.7% of LGBTQ respondents identified as gay, 13.9% as lesbian and 10% as transgender.

 

Bisexuality is the most common LGBTQ identity among members of Gens Z and X and millennials, Gallup reported, with 15% of all Gen Z adults saying they were bisexual.

 

It makes sense that a greater percentage of Gen Z identifies as LGBTQ compared to older generations, said Sharita Gruberg, vice president of LGBTQI+ Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress. Gruberg noted that the world in which the younger generation lives is one where same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, as well as one where awareness and visibility of orientations and identities other than heterosexual and cisgender continues to grow.

"Gen Z has grown up at a time when stigma around LGBTQ identities is on the decline and rights are expanding," said Gruberg, who was not involved in the poll. "As greater awareness about the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities grows, and as stigma surrounding LGBTQ identity lessens, we're likely to see more people self-identify as LGBTQ."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/us/lgbtq-population-increase-gallup-cec/index.html

 

[ganymede255]

Jess Stearn, the author of The Sixth Man: A Startling Investigation of the Spread of Homosexuality in America, seems to have been prescient. proclaiming in 1961 that "one out of every six men in America is a homosexual."  I remember this book well, since a professor in one of the sociology courses I took in college assigned it as required reading at just the moment when I was beginning to ponder my own sexuality.  Although I questioned his estimate at the time, what I took away from the book was that I was far from being alone in my attraction to men and that my professor wanted people like me to know this.

I suspect that the increase in those who identify themselves as LGBT from 2012 to 2020, as Gallup reports, does not document some seismic shift, but simply reflects the number of people who are now willing to to reveal their orientation openly .

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From AFP

US authorizes first condom for use in anal sex

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized the first condom for use during anal intercourse, in what was hailed as a victory for sexual health by experts.

Although people already use condoms for anal sex -- as is recommended by health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -- regulators across the world had only previously allowed companies to officially market their products as "safe and effective" for vaginal use.

Sexual health advocates considered this an unmet public health need since unprotected anal intercourse carries the greatest risk of HIV transmission via sexual exposure, with one study finding that 69 percent of men who have sex with men would use condoms more frequently if they were FDA-indicated.

Wednesday's authorization of Global Protection Corp's One Male Condom follows a clinical trial involving more than 500 people, carried out by Emory University.

"The FDA's authorization of a condom that is specifically indicated, evaluated and labeled for anal intercourse may improve the likelihood of condom use during anal intercourse," said agency scientist Courtney Lias in a statement.

The condom is also indicated to prevent sexually transmitted infections -- and as a contraceptive -- during vaginal sex.

The researchers behind the study, which was published in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine, said one of the reasons the trial succeeded where others failed in the past was likely due to the provision of lubricant and inclusion of instructions on how to use the product.

Lubricant reduces friction, which in turn causes condom failure from slippage and breakage.

Another reason could be that participants were asked to keep mobile phone-based daily diaries, whereas past trials had asked volunteers to recall failure events up to several months later.

Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and medical director of an HIV clinic in San Francisco, welcomed the finding.

"The important thing about condoms is they don't just prevent HIV, but they prevent gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis," she told AFP, adding it was surprising that such an authorization had taken so long to achieve.