Of the 1,700 respondents to the Summit County 2024 Community Health Assessment, just shy of 3% said they identify as LGBTQ+.
Summit County Department of Health Director Phil Bondurant called the statistic one of the great successes of the survey, which his department conducts every five years but had not asked the question before.
“This is the first assessment or report that provides a real, hard number for our LGBTQ community. It allows us to provide population estimates for this community … which helps us make decisions based on what we want to do to improve health in our community, where we should allocate resources and where we should focus our funding,” Bondurant said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” June 9.
About the same number of people declined to disclose their sexual orientation, and 6% of respondents didn’t know or left the question blank.
Park City had a slightly larger number of residents identify as queer than the North or South Summit regions.
Kris Campbell, a board member at the nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy group Summit Pride, said the numbers are smaller than the organization expected. He added that this year’s community health assessment is a good first step and encouraged participation in future surveys.
“In future surveys, we can also learn what issues people are facing, so we can accurately advocate on behalf of LGBTQ+ needs in the community,” Campbell told KPCW. “It's also important to be able to just monitor the health of the community over time. We know that when people feel a sense of belonging, it improves their mental health, and we know that LGBTQ+ youth who don't have community support are at much higher risk for depression and suicide.”
Fewer than ten respondents identified as non-binary. Thirty-two percent said they were male, and 65% female. The U.S. Census says there’s actually a slight majority of men in Summit County.
Bondurant says the overall community health assessment is statistically valid for the close to 43,000 Summit County residents.
His department scheduled workshops to study the results of the survey and begin to craft an actionable plan based on it for Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Jeremy Ranch Elementary School. The workshops are open to the public.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports it’s difficult to know how many people identify as LGBTQ+ statewide. The Census doesn’t ask; other big polls don’t have enough Utah-specific data; and other data is too old.
Combining other surveys conducted for other purposes, The Tribune estimated in 2023 that somewhere between 6% and 8% of Utahns identify as LGBTQ+. Gallup estimates the national rate is 9.3%.
Axios reports that queer Utahns tend to be younger, but that some may not self-report their sexuality in surveys due to concerns about hate crimes or other threats.
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