Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies and Rhetoric Are Harming LGBTQ+ Lives

By Kirby Phares, Rob Todaro, Grace Adcox, and Abby Springs

According to 2023 Gallup polling, 7.6% of U.S. adults now identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. Increases in LGBTQ+ identification over the last decade have corresponded with historic increases in representation in media and government, as well as public support for LGBTQ+ rights.

However, this increase in LGBTQ+ visibility has also been met with a political backlash. Over the last several years, Republican lawmakers have advanced a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures all across the country. Most of these bills specifically target transgender and nonbinary people and seek to regulate nearly every aspect of their lives — from access to health care and bathrooms to the ability to play sports and change their legal documents to reflect their gender identity. Other policies seek to censor LGBTQ+ topics in the classroom, out LGBTQ+ students to their parents, roll back protections against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and conversion therapy, and rigidly define sex as only male and female in legal codes.

This year alone, nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures nationwide. Last year, more than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were signed into law, prompting the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, to declare a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States.

Previous Data for Progress polling of the LGBTQ+ community has found that many LGBTQ+ Americans feel unsafe in their communities and that a majority of transgender adults report a low sense of belonging in U.S. society, while less than half feel comfortable expressing themselves in their local community.

In this new report, Data for Progress surveyed 873 LGBTQ+ adults, including an oversample of transgender adults, nationally using web panel respondents. The findings emphasize the negative impacts of recent anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric on LGBTQ+ people’s lives, including a worse quality of life and mental health, experiences of discrimination and harassment, and difficulties accessing health care. Additionally, the findings point to the importance of having access to LGBTQ+ representation in media and LGBTQ+-affirming online spaces and resources, particularly for young people.