{"id":4655,"date":"2024-03-25T06:59:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T14:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inedc.com\/24\/?p=4655"},"modified":"2024-03-25T06:59:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T14:59:24","slug":"commentary-the-truth-about-gen-zs-sexual-identities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/inedc.com\/24\/news\/commentary-the-truth-about-gen-zs-sexual-identities\/","title":{"rendered":"Unraveling the LGBTQ Surge: A Deep Dive into Gen Z’s Sexual Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

El Dorado County (March 25, 2024) – By Katrina Trinko.<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost 30% of\u00a0Generation Z<\/a>\u00a0women identify as LGBTQ, according to a new Gallup survey.<\/p>\n

Could that possibly be true?<\/p>\n

Well, the Gallup survey, which also found that 22% of Gen Z overall identifies as\u00a0LGBTQ<\/a>, is no outlier. In recent years, data has clearly shown a rising number of Americans identify as LGBTQ, in no small part driven by an enormous percentage of Gen Zers who identify that way.<\/p>\n

A survey released in January by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 28% of Gen Zers consider themselves LGBTQ. Meanwhile, among high schoolers in 2021, only 74% said they considered themselves straight, according to a study released last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

What is driving this huge surge?<\/p>\n

One possibility is societal acceptance. Same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the\u00a0Supreme Court<\/a>\u00a0in 2015, the same year former Olympian and reality TV star Bruce Jenner announced that he now identified as a woman and wanted to be known as Caitlyn.<\/p>\n

For Gen Z adults, which Gallup considers those 18 to 26, their youth was in an era of rapid change about LGBT views.<\/p>\n

Since 2012, more Americans than not have favored the legality of same-sex marriage, according to Gallup. Since 2009, more Americans than not have said they believe that gay and lesbian relationships are moral. Even now, while 55% of Americans say they believe it is immoral to change one\u2019s gender, as\u00a0Gallup<\/a>\u00a0phrases it, a strong minority (43%) says they think it is moral to do so.<\/p>\n

But widespread societal acceptance doesn\u2019t seem to have so drastically affected other generations.\u00a0 Among millennials, about 10% say they identify as LGBTQ. That number drops to 4.5% for Gen X, 2.3% for baby boomers, and 1.1% for the Silent Generation.<\/p>\n

This disparity is curious, and raises questions about the born-that-way argument about the innateness of LGBTQ identity. Wouldn\u2019t Americans who had been hiding their identity now want to reveal it in light of current social views?<\/p>\n

HBO\u2019s Bill Maher, no conservative, came under fire in 2022 when he reacted to a similar Gallup poll by commenting that people may be identifying as LGBTQ to be \u201ctrendy.\u201d Eric Kaufmann, now a professor of politics\u00a0at England\u2019s University of Buckingham, tweeted that Maher was right to say that identity was \u201cshaped by social trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n