According to a report released last
week, roughly 800,000 people came out gay on Facebook last year.
The social media giant reported its
findings to help mark Spirit Day, which calls for an end to the
bullying of LGBT youth, and National Coming Out.
(Related: Ellen
DeGeneres, Caitlyn Jenner, Ellen Page, Matt Bomer tweet Spirit Day
support.)
“We report three major trends,”
Facebook said in its report, titled America's
Coming Out on Facebook. “First, consistent with popular
perceptions, the last year has witnessed steady growth in the number
and rate of people coming out on Facebook. Second, support for LGBT
groups has likewise increased. Finally, the Supreme Court Obergefell
ruling had a strong effect on the number of people coming out on
Facebook and support for LGBT groups.”
According to Facebook, roughly 800,000
Americans came out over the last 12 months, which is defined as
either updating a profile to express a same-gender attraction or to
specify a custom gender.
“Not only has the total number of
Americans who have come out on Facebook risen dramatically [since
October 2014], but so has the number coming out each day. The number
of people on Facebook coming out per day is on track to be three
times what it was a year ago.”
On June 26, the day the Supreme Court
struck down gay marriage bans nationwide, one out of every five
people who changed their status on Facebook did so to “reflect a
same-gender interest,” doubling the average daily coming out rate.
Facebook said that 6 million Americans
have come out on Facebook.