New survey doubles estimate of transgender adults in US

Associated Press

NEW YORK

About 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender, double the estimate from a decade ago, a team of experts reported Thursday.

Their survey, calculating that 0.6 percent of U.S. adults are transgender, was released at a time when several issues related to transgender rights are in the spotlight. The military is moving to allow transgender service members to serve openly, and there is intense debate nationwide over transgender people’s access to public bathrooms.

The new survey was conducted by four scholars and analysts affiliated with the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law that specializes in research on issues affecting lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

One of the experts, demographer Gary Gates, had come up with the previous estimate of 700,000 in a report issued in 2011 that used data from the previous decade.

The new estimate, he said, resulted from the availability of much more comprehensive data, as well as the increased willingness of transgender people to be open about their gender identity.