U.S.: Number of Teens Identifying as LGBT+ Declines

(ZENIT News / Washington, 10.20.2026).- A sharp decline in the number of American high school students identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual is challenging assumptions about the recent evolution of adolescent sexual identity. The latest federal data show that the proportion of teenagers reporting these identities has fallen after years of substantial growth, particularly among girls and younger students. Researchers caution that the reasons remain unclear, while commentators disagree over whether the figures reflect changing cultural influences, political pressures or the ordinary process of growing up.

The findings come from the 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Psychologist Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University who compared the new figures with those from 2023, described the changes as striking in a late-September analysis.

Among girls, the proportion identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual fell by five percentage points to 22% in 2025. Among boys, it declined by two points to 7%. The differences were especially pronounced among younger students: the share of ninth-graders identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual dropped from 17% to 11%, while the figure for twelfth-graders fell from 18% to 16%.

Twenge excluded respondents who described their sexual orientation in another way, were unsure of their answer or did not understand the question. The analysis did not specifically examine transgender identification, which concerns gender identity rather than sexual orientation.

The figures represent a notable departure from the preceding decade. According to Twenge, the proportion of girls identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual increased by 128% over six years from the 2015 baseline, while the proportion of boys identifying this way rose by 99% over eight years. She has also observed that identification among young adults aged 18 to 24 is no longer increasing at the pace recorded between 2014 and 2022.

Other research points in a similar direction. A University of Minnesota study found that the proportion of students identifying as heterosexual rose from 76% in 2022 to 83% in 2025 among the school grades surveyed. Political scientist Eric Kaufmann has likewise cited studies suggesting declining non-heterosexual identification among secondary-school and university students.

Yet a change in survey responses does not, by itself, establish that underlying sexual orientation has changed. Twenge has acknowledged that she does not know what explains the decline and that further research is needed to determine whether it marks a lasting trend or a temporary fluctuation.

Competing explanations for a complicated change

The debate has quickly become political. Supporters of President Donald Trump’s family policies argue that the figures may reflect a retreat from cultural messages that encouraged young people to question or reject conventional understandings of sex and gender.

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, welcomed the administration’s efforts to remove transgender-related material from school curricula and restrict the participation of transgender girls in female sports. He argues that stable family relationships are central to personal well-being and believes some young people have been drawn toward identities that promised acceptance but could complicate relationships with parents and others who raised questions.

Andrew Rodriguez, a licensed professional counselor in Pennsylvania who directs Integrity Christian Counseling, offers a cultural explanation. In his view, identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual became socially attractive in some adolescent environments, particularly among girls, and some young people may now be reconsidering labels they previously adopted. He believes that social influences can shape how teenagers understand themselves, although his interpretation remains a hypothesis rather than an established explanation for the national figures.

Rodriguez also approaches sexuality from a Christian perspective, emphasizing the value of marriage and parenthood. That conviction forms part of a broader religious understanding of human relationships, but the survey data do not establish that a renewed interest in traditional family life is responsible for the decline.

Other commentators strongly dispute the conservative interpretation. PZ Myers, an atheist biologist and blogger who identifies as politically liberal, argues that the numbers could reflect reluctance among teenagers to disclose a non-heterosexual identity in a more hostile political climate. In an essay titled “Oppression Works!”, he questioned whether young people were genuinely changing their orientation or simply becoming less willing to report it.

The chronology complicates that argument, however. Twenge’s data show a modest decline among ninth- and tenth-graders in 2021, during the final year of Trump’s first presidency. The more substantial declines began around 2024, under President Joe Biden, whose administration pursued policies supportive of LGBT people. This sequence does not prove that politics played no role, but it makes a simple explanation based exclusively on one administration difficult to sustain.

The importance of distinguishing identity, orientation and well-being

The debate also raises questions about how schools, families and mental health professionals should approach adolescent development. Teenagers are still forming their sense of identity, and their answers to surveys may be influenced by personal experience, peer groups, social expectations and the language available to describe themselves. Researchers will need more detailed evidence before determining how much each factor contributes to the latest results.

The distinction between sexual orientation and gender identity is equally important. The CDC figures discussed by Twenge concern lesbian, gay and bisexual identification; they should not be presented as direct evidence of a decline in transgender identification. Nor do changes in self-identification necessarily demonstrate an equivalent change in attraction, behavior or long-term identity.

The legal debate surrounding counseling has added another dimension. In Chiles v. Salazar, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Colorado law violated therapist Kaley Chiles’s constitutional rights in the circumstances before the court, involving conversations with clients about sex and gender. David Pickup, a Texas psychologist who works with therapists and researchers critical of pressure to affirm a homosexual identity, believes the decision may allow greater freedom to explore questions of sexuality and gender in counseling.

The ruling does not establish that sexual orientation is generally changeable, nor does it show that counseling can reliably produce a particular outcome. Its implications for professional practice must be distinguished from the scientific questions raised by the survey. 

A challenge for families, schools and public debate

The latest figures are significant, particularly the decline among ninth-graders and girls. But they are the beginning of a research question, not its final answer. Whether the change proves temporary or marks a broader cultural shift, understanding it will require careful longitudinal research, attention to the experiences of adolescents themselves and a willingness to separate measurable findings from political expectations.

For now, the most defensible conclusion is also the most demanding: American teenagers appear to be describing their sexual identities differently than they did only a few years ago, but why that is happening remains uncertain.

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