A new report on the society-wide increase in LGBT identification found that the number of people who call themselves something other than “straight” is increasing faster than actual non-straight sexual behavior.
The number of men and women under 30 who reported exclusively heterosexual partners dropped from 96% in the 1990’s to 92% in 2021, according to the new report from the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI). However, most surveys indicate that the number of Americans under 30 who identify as LGBT is around 20%, the report said.
“The majority of the increase in LGBT identity can be traced to how those who only engage in heterosexual behavior describe themselves.” https://t.co/bvIFKSRF7e
— Katie Herzog (@kittypurrzog) May 30, 2022
“Whereas in 2008 attitudes and behavior were similar, by 2021 LGBT identification was running at twice the rate of LGBT sexual behavior,” the report found.
The CSPI report compiles data from numerous societal surveys between the 1990’s and 2021, including the General Social Survey, Pew surveys, FIRE research, Qualtric surveys and U.K. government data.
The surge in LGBT identification is concentrated in particular sociopolitical groups, the report said. The most liberal survey respondents moved from about 10-15% non-heterosexual in 2016 to 33% LGBT by 2021, according to the report, a far bigger shift than other groups. LGBT identification was also disproportionately associated with anxiety and depression in young people, and the group which grew the most among the LGBT community were bisexuals, a significant majority of whom were women.
University students majoring in social sciences and humanities were found to be about 10 points more LGBT than those studying STEM. 52% of students taking “highly political” majors, such as race or gender studies, identify as LGBT.
According to the report, various surveys indicate that gender nonconformity, such as identifying as transgender or non-binary, is actually on the decline after reaching a peak in recent years. (RELATED: Outbreak Of Monkeypox Linked To Massive Festival For The ‘Gay Fetish Community’)
Based on the rate of non-heterosexual behavior increasing at a substantially slower rate than non-heterosexual identification, the report concludes that “sociopolitical factors likely explain most of the rise in LGBT identity.”