About a quarter of high school students identify as gay, bisexual or have a more fluid sexuality, official data suggests.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual youth report found that only 75.5 percent of 14- to 18-year-olds said they were heterosexual in 2021 — a new low.
The others said they were bisexual (12.1 percent), gay or lesbian (3.2 percent), ‘different’ (3.9 percent) or ‘doubted’ about their sexuality (5.2 percent).
The percentage of students who do not consider themselves straight has more than doubled in recent years: from 11 percent in 2015 to 24.5 percent in 2021.
The number of alternative sexualities among school-aged children is much higher than in the adult population – where about seven percent are gay, bisexual or otherwise.
2021 CDC data released today shows 24% of high school students said they were bisexual (12.1 percent), gay or lesbian (3.2 percent), “other” (3.9 percent) or said they were ‘questioning’ their sexuality (5.2 percent).
One in four high school students in the US report identifying as a sexuality other than heterosexual. This is a sharp increase over the past six years, when only 11 percent identified as such in 2011
Experts say the explosion of alternative sexuality among children can be partly attributed to its increased acceptance.
Dr. Mollie Blackburn, who teaches sexuality studies at Ohio State University, told DailyMail.com: “It is an increase in acceptance from both parents and society.
‘[Accepting people] creates a context where a child will be more willing to say they are gay.’
She does not think that the actual number of children who are really gay, lesbian or bisexual has changed in recent years, but that young people are now more willing to admit it.
But Jay Richard, a senior research fellow at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, said the US was an outlier.
In the UK, for example, eight percent of people aged 16 to 24 identify as LGBT, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
He said the rise of gender studies in American schools in recent years was partly behind the rise. ‘I have no doubt that schools definitely play a role in this growth.’
In recent years, some schools have begun teaching sex education from second grade, drawing opposition from conservative lawmakers.
Richard also claimed that the increased political focus on social justice prompted children to say they were not heterosexual in order to appear “less simple.”
“There are social incentives to declare yourself a sexual minority,” he added. “You don’t have to do anything to be bisexual. you [could] just want to make you cooler.”
Richard also said the new research style implemented in today’s CDC report “weakened the findings.”
The data comes from the CDC’s biennial Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. It is the first report since the Covid pandemic.
The nationally representative study included data from 17,232 children at 152 schools in 45 U.S. states.
Teens are anonymously surveyed on a myriad of factors, from their mental health, sexual identity and whether they use drugs or carry guns.
In this study, students who answered that they were ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘bisexual’ or ‘questioning’ were included in the ‘non-heterosexual’ group.
The CDC found that 25 percent of students fell into this group, a sharp increase from just 15 percent in 2017.
However, the CDC notes that changes in the state’s way of asking questions could be responsible for the surge. The addition of ‘questions’ as an answer can increase the rates.
“Increases in the percentage of LGBQ+ students in YRBSS 2021 may be a result of changes in question wording, with students identifying as asking: “I am unsure of my sexual identity (question)”, or else: “I am describing my sexual identity in a different way,” the agency wrote.
The report found that children who identify as part of the LGB community are significantly more likely to have serious mental health problems.
More than half of female high school students who identify as bisexual have seriously considered suicide, and 40 percent identified as bisexual.
This compares to 20 percent of heterosexual female students.
As many as 26 percent — more than one in four — bisexual female college students attempted suicide.
Ms Blackburn says these rates are so high because bisexual students struggle to fit in with peers as they can be rejected by both the straight and lesbian community.
This is compared to 15 percent of lesbians and 8 percent of straight girls.
Some have said the increase in children identifying as LGB is due to increased acceptance in the US after same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015. Others instead claim it is a product of school indoctrination (file photo)
Among men, 40 percent of bisexuals were likely to consider suicide, while the rate was 35 percent among gay teens.
One in ten heterosexual teens considered suicide. Five percent attempted suicide, compared to 20 percent of gay teens and 17 percent of bisexual men.
These students were also more likely to be victims of sexual violence.
When asked if they were physically forced to engage in a sexual activity they did not want, 23 percent of bisexual students and 17 percent of lesbian and gay students answered yes.
This compares to five percent of heterosexual students. College students in a same-sex relationship were also twice as likely to be sexually assaulted by their partner.
“Students who identify as bisexual and students who have sexual contact with both genders are more likely to be victims of violence,” the CDC wrote.
It is unclear what accounts for the increasing number of teens who identify as a sexuality other than heterosexual.
Some have pointed to the increasing acceptance of the community in recent years. Same-sex marriage was legalized in the US in 2015, legitimizing the community in the eyes of many.
Recent classes of high school students are among the first to grow up in a time when gay and lesbian marriages were legal.
On the other hand, some have said that the rising number of LGBT-identifying children is due to indoctrination in schools.
Ron DeSantis, Florida governor and likely candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential election, has blamed the teaching of sex and sexual identity in schools.
Gov. DeSantis signed HB1557, into law in early 2022. The bill banned the teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools from kindergarten through third grade.
Critics called the bill the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, claiming it discriminated against the LGBT community.
Proponents, however, argue that sexual identity education is inappropriate for schools.