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The share of married LGBTQ Americans has slipped from its 2016-2017 peak, according to Gallup, as the court opinion allowing same-sex marriages approaches the 10-year mark.
Between June 2016 and June 2017, 10.2 percent of LGBTQ Americans were in same-sex marriages, according to polling from Gallup. From 2021 to 2024, Gallup found 8 percent of LGBTQ Americans in such marriages, a 2.2-point drop.
Meanwhile, 11.3 percent were in a marriage with an opposite-sex spouse, in the most recent survey.
But Gallup noted that overall, more same-sex marriages exist now, even considering the dip.
“Even though the percentage of LGBTQ+ adults who are married to a same-sex spouse has declined, the number of same-sex marriages in the U.S. is still likely higher than in the past. That is because the percentage of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. population as a whole is increasing more than the marriage rate among LGBTQ+ adults is decreasing,”
The Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in the Obergefell v. Hodges case established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, a landmark moment for LGBTQ rights after years of effort from activists on the issue.
The Gallup survey also noted that while Americans’ support for same-sex marriage has risen to 70 percent, “the percentage of Americans in favor of legal same-sex marriage appears to be leveling off, if not declining slightly, because of reduced support among Republicans.”
In the last few years, the transgender community has been increasingly targeted by the right on the state and federal level. Shortly after returning to office in January, President Trump signed an executive order recognizing male and female as the only two sexes and directing federal agencies to halt promotion of the concept of gender transition.
“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
The 2021-2024 Gallup polling featured 2,670 LGBTQ adults and plus or minus 2 percentage points as its margin of sampling error.
