Number of LGBTQ+ Wanting Children Goes Up: Survey

Newsweek

a day ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
A recent survey from the Pew Research Center polled LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ individuals about their marriage and family aspirations. Newsweek compared this data from 2025 to data from a 2013 Pew Research Center study to reveal how marriage and family aspirations have changed for the LGBTQ community.
Why It Matters
There are currently widespread concerns over Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case which guaranteed the right to same-sex marriage nationwide, potentially being overturned in the U.S.
Crowds watch outside of Stonewall National Monument as people take part in the 2025 NYC Pride March on June 29, 2025 in New York City.
Crowds watch outside of Stonewall National Monument as people take part in the 2025 NYC Pride March on June 29, 2025 in New York City.Justices like Clarence Thomas have signaled an openness to revisit the case as the court has shifted to the right. This shift on cultural issues was defined by the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade, which for decades guaranteed abortion rights. If the courts were to overturn same-sex marriage nationwide, the issue would likely return to the states.
The data from the Pew Research Center comes as countries all over the world face declining birth rates. In the U.S., the fertility rate (the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime) is now projected to average 1.6 births per woman over the next three decades, according to the Congressional Budget Office's latest forecast. This is below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman required to maintain a stable population without immigration.
What To Know
The recent Pew Research Center poll, published in August of this year, polled both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ adults.
The poll found that 59 percent of adults under 50 who had never been married say that they want to get married someday.
A third of LGBTQ adults under 50 who do not have children said they wanted children someday. This figure was higher among non-LGBTQ people, 47 percent of whom wanted children.
The number of LGBTQ adults wanting children has risen, though, compared to the Pew Research Center's 2013 study. That study found that about three-in-ten (28 percent) of these LGBT respondents say they would like to have children someday. 2025's data represents a 5 percent increase.
The 2013 study also polled individuals on marriage desires, but used different criteria. It found that a total of 60 percent of LGBT respondents were either married or intended to marry one day.
Newsweek spoke to experts about this data and what it represents.
Dr. Garry J. Gates, an expert on geography and demography of the LGBT population who co-authored The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, told Newsweek over email, "Unlike marriage more generally, child-rearing for LGBTQ people can often be more complex and expensive than child-rearing among their non-LGBTQ counterparts. Same-gender couples who want to parent likely face expenses associated with adoption, surrogacy, and reproductive technologies that many different-gender couples don't encounter.
"Surveys suggest that increases in the age of first marriage in the US are often associated with a desire for greater economic certainty before committing to marriage. So it's clear that economic factors affect the timing & possibly the desire for marriage among many. It's not surprising then to find that economic constraints associated with child-rearing for LGBTQ people could result in a lower desire to have children," Gates said.
Newsweek also spoke with Abbie Goldberg, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark University. "I'm actually not that surprised," she said of the findings. "Is the expectation that marriage would become more attractive over time? If so, I don't know that this is true, or why it would be true; LGBTQ+ Americans who were critical of marriage as an institution in 2015 might remain so."
"The key feature—consistent in the Pew data—that seems to drive marriage is the desire to be a parent. If we don't see steeply rising rates of LGBTQ+ folks who want to be parents, then perhaps we also won't see similar rises in marriage aspirations," Goldberg said.
Pointing to the factors influencing attitudes among LGBTQ+ people toward marriage and childbearing, Goldberg said "Compared with older generations, LGBTQI+ Gen Z report more mental health issues, including feelings of hopelessness and anxiety, which arise from a variety of sources including rising anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and attacks on their rights, financial and housing instability, employment uncertainties, climate change, and lack of access to affirming health/mental health services."
What People Are Saying
Dr. Garry J. Gates, an expert on geography and demography of the LGBT population who co-authored The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, told Newsweek over email: "These findings suggest that views on marriage are becoming less associated with sexual orientation or gender identity. In short, marriage equality worked. In the case of child-rearing, very specific economic constraints that are more prevalent in LGBTQ populations likely play a large part in observed differences in the desire to have children.
Abbie Goldberg, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark University told Newsweek over email: "Much of my research suggests that marriage is attractive to LGBTQ+ people in part because they wish to protect current or future children. Beyond that, we see the typical reasons: desire for legal protections, love and companionship, and societal acceptance/symbolic value. Perhaps, as some of my recent data suggest, LGBTQ+ Americans right now are more fearful than ever that the right to marry could be taken away—and, if they are leaning toward marriage mainly for the legal protections, the fear that they could lose those protections could be a partial disincentive to hold back."
What's Next
There are ongoing concerns over the Supreme Court moving to overturn gay marriage. It currently faces a choice about whether to take a case, filed by the former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, urging the overturn its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
The Supreme Court may decide whether to accept Davis' case in the coming months, but it has not indicated which way it is leaning.