However, it is important to recognize that these groups are not homogenous. Collectively, the moniker LGBTQ is used to describe individuals who comprise these groups (sexual and gender minorities). Sexual minorities include individuals who identify as something other than heterosexual. Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual or romantic desires for, and relationships with, people of the other sex (heterosexual), one’s same sex (homosexual), or both sexes (bisexual). Gender minorities are individuals who identify as a gender incongruent with their biological sex. Below are five things we do know about LGBTQ youth.īut first, some terminology basics: g ender identity refers to a person’s sense of being male (a man or boy), female (a woman or girl), or other gender (e.g., transgender, bigender, or gender queer – a rejection of the traditional binary classification of gender). Even less is known about the needs of LGBTQ youth in particular. Despite these numbers, good data and research on outcomes for LGBTQ populations are relatively new and in short supply.
In the U.S., approximately 3.5 percent of the adult population identify as LGBT,* a number assumed to apply to youth (and in a recent Gallup poll, young adults were three times as likely as seniors to identify as LGBT). For a variety of biological and social reasons, it is also the time when many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth begin to self-identify as such. Adolescence is a time of significant physical and social-emotional development for youth.
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