More Than 6 Million Americans Have Come Out on Facebook

Data released by the social network shows more people every day are going online to come out.

Support for the LGBT population is on the rise and the number of people coming out on Facebook each day is on track to be three times what it was a year ago, according to a data report released by the social network Thursday.

More than 6 million people have come out on Facebook since its creation, claims the company, more than the entire population of Los Angeles. The social network defines coming out as changing one's profile to express same-sex attraction or an alternative gender. This year alone, more than 800,000 Americans have changed their profiles in this manner, according to the social network.

Certain events prompted Facebook users to come out en masse, the report says. "On a typical day, one out of every 10 people who change their “interested in” status on Facebook do so to reflect a same-gender interest," according to the report. "On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, this ratio was double, one out of every five people."

The passage of marriage equality was also a big day for LGBT allies. According to the social network more than 26 million Americans changed their Facebook profiles to include a rainbow flag filter in the days surrounding the June court decision. For comparison, this number is greater than three times the population of New York City.

The Supreme Court decision also coincided with the largest single increase in support for the 300 most popular LGBT Facebook pages, including those of large organizations such as Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD or Equality Now, as well as many other LGBT-related pages — such as The Advocate Magazine's.

Facebook released this data in honor of Spirit Day, which calls attention to anti-LGBT bullying, and National Coming Out Day, which also fell in October.

Click here to read the full report from Facebook.