by Joe Siegel

Gallup’s latest polling shows that 9.3 percent of Americans identify as part of the LGBTQ community, up nearly two points from 2023.

LGBTQ media outlets are now wondering — perhaps hoping — this will lead to an increase in readership.

“Gallup’s latest poll shows the LGBTQ+ community is growing, now at 9.3 percent,” reported media consortium News Is Out. “… That number has doubled since 2020 and is six points higher than in 2012 when Gallup first began tracking this data. These results reflect the telephone responses of 14,000 participants.”

According to the reporting, “Gallup’s data shows generational differences in LGBTQ+ identification: 23 percent of Gen Z respondents identify as LGBTQ+, followed by 14 percent of Millennials, 5 percent of Gen X, 3 percent of Boomers and 1.8 percent of the Silent Generation.”

Among respondents who identified as LGBTQ, “56 percent identified as bisexual, 21 percent as gay, 14.6 percent as lesbian, and 13.9 percent as transgender. Less than 1 percent identified as queer, while pansexual and asexual individuals each made up around 1 percent. Other key differentiators included gender, with 10 percent of women respondents versus 6 percent of men identifying as LGBTQ+. Location also shows a difference in data, with those living in cities (11 percent) more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ than those living in more rural areas (7 percent).”

Michael Yamashita, publisher of San Francisco-based Bay Area Reporter, acknowledged the challenge in trying to expand the newspaper’s readership.

“We’re always looking for younger writers and subjects that appeal to younger readers, but they are a difficult demographic to reach,” said Yamashita. “As with most media companies, we have to meet them where they gather and that means on most social media accounts. Since the majority of readers consume their news on their phones, we also have to keep up with best SEO practices and compatibility among platforms in order to be seen.”

“We are always striving to keep up with the latest trends in media, trying to make sure that we get all the news we can to all the people we can, using the best avenues available to us,” said Tammye Nash, managing editor of the Dallas Voice. “We have a video program we call DVtv, with several top notch videographers, editors and onscreen talent that we send to events. We are always working to improve and expand that part of our outreach. We have a staff member dedicated to improving and expanding our social media presence across a variety of platforms.”

Nash also emphasized the diversity in the publication’s staff. “We have a staff member in his 70s, and two in their 20s. We have a nonbinary staff member, a bisexual staff member, a straight staff member and, of course, gay staff members and a lesbian staff member.”

Dallas Voice covers both ends of the political spectrum, including gay Republicans. The paper also features the work of gay Republican columnists. 

“We love that our staff reflects our community as a whole, and we try to use our diverse staff and freelance stable to keep up to date on what’s happening in the various segments of our very diverse community as a whole,” Nash said. “There is always room for improvement on all fronts, of course, and we try to always be looking for ways we can improve, especially when it comes to reaching out to and appealing to all the parts of our community.”

IN THE NEWS
Volume 27
Issue 2