District of Columbia and Hawaii Have Largest LGBT Populations — Gallup

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In an odd bit of research, Gallup has reported that states that have the most and least lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. The polling firm reports that:

The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as (LGBT) ranges from 1.7% in North Dakota to 5.1% in Hawaii and 10% in the District of Columbia, according to Gallup surveys conducted from June-December 2012. Residents in the District of Columbia were most likely to identify as LGBT (10%). Among states, the highest percentage was in Hawaii (5.1%) and the lowest in North Dakota (1.7%), but all states are within two percentage points of the nationwide average of 3.5%.”

Interestingly, government policy may cause the differences from state to state, which is often the case with economic and social trends.

States with high LGBT percentages tend to be more liberal and have more supportive LGBT legal climates, while those at the lower end of the LGBT spectrum are generally the most conservative. This suggests that one explanation for the variation across states is the relationship between the willingness to disclose LGBT identity and the environment of one’s state of residence. It is also possible that LGBT adults make conscious choices to reside in certain states rather than others, but this possibility is difficult to assess and seems less likely.

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