The majority of non-LGBTQ+ gamers don't care if a main character is trans, according to GLAAD Gaming's debut report

To accompany the official launch of GLAAD Gaming, the organisation has released its first report on the state of LGBTQ+ gamers in the industry—and it could banish some common assumptions made by the public at-large.

Founded in 1985 during the AIDS epidemic, GLAAD targeted defamatory coverage and was able to shift the editorial policy of The New York Times. Since then, it's become one of the largest non-profit LGBTQ+ advocacy organisations in the world, advocating for proper representation across several forms of different media including film, advertising, and social media initiatives. 

Its foray into gaming has been more recent. Originating from the GLAAD Media Institute (created in 2018), the organisation has collaborated with several studios, most recently Respawn Entertainment—who worked with GLAAD on the canonically-trans character Catalyst in Apex Legends.

In a full report shared with PC Gamer (and released shortly before publication), GLAAD has continued to further its advocacy in the gaming industry. Developed alongside information, data and market measurement firm Nielsen, its first report has turned up some interesting finds.

While the full report has a lot more in the way of details, one in particular drew my eye. According to GLAAD, 17%—nearly 1 in 5—of gamers are LGBTQ+, which is a 7% increase from a previous Nielsen report in 2020. The report makes note of a Gallup Survey which estimated that around 7.2% of US adults «identified as LGBT».

Taking that data at face-value, LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately gaming—1 in 10 compared to 1 in 5. However, GLAAD's survey sample features gamers between the ages of 13 and 55, while Gallup's survey targets US adults over the age of 18. In the same Gallup survey, it found that a far larger 19.7% of adults between ages 18 and 25 «identified as LGBT».

However: While comparisons against the US population could be explained by a different sample age, the 2020 Nielsen report—the basis for that 7% stated increase—also