Everybody’s A Little Gay, Right? New Study Reveals More Australian’s Are LGBTQIA+
A new study conducted in Australia has produced research on the number of LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals. The research shows that 9.5% of Australians do not identify as heterosexual, with numbers growing in demographics aged under 25, reports Sydney Morning Herald.
This study was undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of academics from institutions around the country and draws light on the maltreatment experienced by diverse sexualities.
Study reveals alarming results
The study was conducted by a team of academics led by Professor Daryl Higgins, director of Australian Catholic University’s Institute of Child Protection Studies. The results were surveyed from a pool of 8,500 participants making it the largest study on sexual orientation and gender undertaken in Australia.
Of the 9.5% of Australians who do not identify as heterosexual, the majority appears to come from younger demographics. Among 16 to 24-year-olds, 18.9% do not identify as heterosexual. A whopping 17.7% identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, pansexual or reject a label altogether. A further 1.2 per cent did not know or declined to answer.
This study also surveyed individuals about their experience of maltreatment or abuse. By consolidating data from this study and data from 2023’s Australian Child Maltreatment Study, researchers have concluded that Australians with diverse sexualities or genders are three times more likely to experience maltreatment than their heterosexual male counterparts. The most common form of this maltreatment was emotional abuse, followed by exposure to domestic abuse.
A concerning 90.5% of individuals aged 16-24 who identified as being gender diverse, including transgender, reported maltreatment.
Professor Higgins reports that the most vulnerable demographics within the LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals included people under 25. Women were 1.37 times more likely than men to experience any kind of maltreatment. Trans and gender-diverse individuals were 3.08 times more likely to experience any form of maltreatment and 4.84 times more likely to suffer sexual abuse.
More individuals are reporting openly that they are LGBTQIA+ which means there’s more data available for studies like this. Researchers believe there’s a great need for targeted preventions and supports for gender and sexuality diverse young people.
