This Report focuses on the growing LGBTQ+ population in the United States, and explores the challenges, concerns, and unique experiences of these consumers. By assessing perceptions of LGBTQ+ inclusivity and representation, as well as reactions to Pride marketing efforts, this Report aims to help clients better understand how to effectively engage and appeal to this consumer group.

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity. For a full list of terminology included in Report, see Appendix:

• Ally: a person who does not identify as LGBTQ+ but shows support for the community and promotes equality in a variety of ways

• Asexual: A person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to anyone, and/or does not experience desire for sexual contact.

• Bisexual: a person emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to more than one sex, gender or gender identity, though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way, or to the same degree

• Cisgender: a term used to describe a person whose gender identity aligns with those typically associated with the sex assigned to them at birth

• Gender expression: external appearance of one's gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, haircut or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with being either masculine or feminine

• Gender identity: one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves; one's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth

• Gender non-conforming: A broad term referring to people who do not behave in a way that conforms to the traditional expectations of their gender, or whose gender expression does not fit neatly into a category

• LGBTQ+: an acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other identification”

• Non-binary: an adjective describing a person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Non-binary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, somewhere in between, or as falling completely outside these categories; while many also identify as transgender, not all non-binary people do

• Pansexual: describes someone who has the potential for emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to people of any gender though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way, or to the same degree

• Queer: a term that although used derogatorily in the past, has been reclaimed to express fluid identities and orientations; often used interchangeably with “LGBTQ+”

• Sexual orientation: an inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people

• SOGI: acronym for “sexual orientation and gender identity”

• Transgender (often abbreviated as trans): an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Note, being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation; therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc.

Source: Human Rights Campaign’s Glossary of Terms