Pride is almost over, but before it ends, it is an excellent time to remember that the LGBTQ+ community is an essential part of the secular community.
According to the 2022 Cooperative Election Study, 11 percent of adults identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or have other sexual orientation (this “other” category is a compilation of open-ended answers and just reported on the aggregate), or are transgender. However, among the nones, this figure increases to 18%. While about 1 in 10 U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+, almost one in five nones are. This includes roughly one in four self-identified atheists (25%) and agnostics (24%). Among people with no religion (the subgroup that does not identify as atheist or agnostic), 14% identify as part of the LGBT+ community.
Though we talk a lot about the younger generation (aka Gen Z) as being very secular, the fact is that the LGBT+ community is probably the most secular demographic cohort. A majority (56%) identify as agnostic (13%), atheist (14%), or nothing in particular (29%).
As Pride Month closes, it is a good time to remember that secular issues are LGBT+ issues. Any attack on the LGBT+ community attacks a major segment of the secular community.
Today the Right is obsessed with the trans community; if they get their way, the LGB part of the community will be next (as before). After that, they will not stop until they get the heathen. Because total domination over any deviation from a perfectly Christian society is their goal. We’re in this together.
Other news
I am quoted in this piece by Ana Rita Guerra in Portugal’s Diário de Notícias about the GOP’s so-called “War on Wokeness.”
My latest piece at Interfaith America continues my series about the increase in Latinx nones.
Now that we are talking about Latinx nones, here’s a profile of my friend Anthony Cruz Pantojas, the Humanist Chaplain at Tufts University, published in the Religion News Service.