I'd like to know what "identify as LGBT" means as even with significantly greater social acceptance, those numbers seem high. I wonder if something along the lines of, "I'm an ally so I identify" is included in that.
Note: It's no skin off my teeth if the true number were ninety nine percent. I'm not attempting to argue against. Just want to know the definition of the term they're using here.
Gen Z likely has a much more loose definition of sexuality and gender identity than the older generations have. The more loose the definition, the more people that can identify as part of the group.
Understanding gender and sexuality as fluid and as part of a spectrum is a difficult thing to learn when you've been taught the exact opposite your whole life. And Gen Z isn't old enough to be stuck in those definitions. Love it or hate it (and I do hate social media for many reasons), social media has been the catalyst for so much LGBT+ acceptance.
What's important: There is the letter B in LGBT. Half of the the LGBTs identify as bisexual. A lot more people now fell free to say that they are bi. More than before.
One of the recent advantages with the newer generations cane with the internet which provided a place to create common nomenclature and symbols.
Take a kid who notices their own likes and sense of self doesn't make sense to their peers and vice versa. In my generation we just felt like an outlier, a deviant from the norm. With the internet LGBT+ community they can find these desires and behavior patterns are not unique, are not unhealthy or harmful, and there are others with like experiences.
There's also the matter that these groups are commonly marginalized much the way women and nonwhites are. Our community is united by the need to be regarded as equals by the state and by our neighbors, even when we are out (id est, who we are is known by our peers).