By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-29 00:16:38 | Updated at 2026-09-29 04:17:42
7 hours ago
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that fewer high school-aged Americans are identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB).
The decline is largely driven by young women. According to the CDC’s Youth Risk Survey of U.S. 9th to 12th graders in 2025, there is a relative decline in LGB identification across each grade compared to two years earlier, according to a breakdown of the findings by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge. (RELATED: Classic American Town Hosts Soft Core Smut Drag And Burlesque Show With Kids Present)
Seniors, ranging in age from 17 to 18, had the highest rate of LGB identification among the four grades measured, with 16 percent identifying as LGB. However, that was still two percentage points below the rate among seniors surveyed in 2023.
Each grade had a lower rate of LGB identification in 2025 than in 2023, with younger grades showing a decline. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that fewer high school-aged Americans are identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB).
The 9th graders, aged 14 and 15, had the lowest rate of LGB identification and the largest drop from previous years. While the CDC found that 17 percent of 9th graders identified as LGB in 2023, only 11 percent did in 2025.
“That really does look like a free fall,” Twenge said, adding that “The decline appears to be driven almost entirely by girls.”
Did not know: Identifying as LGB is falling for teens, esp 9th graders. New from @jean_twenge: pic.twitter.com/cbhjuQaACa
— Brad Wilcox (@BradWilcoxIFS) September 28, 2026In 2023, 27 percent of the women surveyed and only 9 percent of the men surveyed identified with any of these sexual orientations. By 2025, the percentage of females identifying as LGB dropped to 22 percent, while the percentage of men dropped to 7 percent.
Between 2015 and 2021, the number of high school-aged girls identifying as LGB increased by 128 percent, while the self-identification of boys as LGB increased by nearly double, to 99 percent, between 2015 and 2023.
Thus, 9th grade girls were the largest factor in the latest drop, with the percentage of girls identifying as LGB nearly cut in half, decreasing from 30 percent in 2021 to 17 percent in 2025.
Senior girls had a much smaller drop, going from a high of 28 percent in 2023 to 25 percent in 2025.
More specifically, the shift was largely due to girls’ decline in identifying as bisexual, with 9th graders showing the largest change. Despite 26 percent of 9th grade girls identifying as bisexual in 2021, only 13 percent identified with that sexual orientation in 2025, Twenge concluded.
— Eric Kaufmann (@epkaufm) September 28, 2026Also of note, 2023’s underclassmen, those who were 9th or 10th graders during that year’s survey, showed less than a two-point drop, while upperclassmen, 11th and 12th graders, did so in 2025. This suggests that the drop is predominantly due to newer students not identifying as LGB, rather than students who had previously identified as one of those three options now leaving those sexual orientations behind.
Because self-identification of sexual orientation does not perfectly line up with how one acts, Twenge included the rate at which a small portion of sexually active teens choose partners of the same sex.
While boys are seeing a slow but steady increase in having same-sex partners, passing just over 10 percent, girls are seeing both double the amount of same-sex partners at over 20 percent, as well as nearly a 10 percent drop in same-sex partners since 2021. (How Trump Ended The Left’s Globalist LGBTQ Agenda)
Twenge said that the data is not able to predict if this change will continue, nor is she able to conclude any definitive reasons as to why 9th grade girls are dropping in their identification as LGB at lower rates than the grades above them.
The 9th graders, aged 14 and 15, had the lowest rate of LGB identification and the largest drop from previous years. While the CDC found that 17 percent of 9th graders identified as LGB in 2023, only 11 percent did in 2025.
“That really does look like a free fall,” Twenge said, adding that “The decline appears to be driven almost entirely by girls.”
Did not know: Identifying as LGB is falling for teens, esp 9th graders. New from @jean_twenge: pic.twitter.com/cbhjuQaACa
— Brad Wilcox (@BradWilcoxIFS) September 28, 2026In 2023, 27 percent of the women surveyed and only 9 percent of the men surveyed identified with any of these sexual orientations. By 2025, the percentage of females identifying as LGB dropped to 22 percent, while the percentage of men dropped to 7 percent.
Between 2015 and 2021, the number of high school-aged girls identifying as LGB increased by 128 percent, while the self-identification of boys as LGB nearly doubled, increasing by 99 percent, between 2015 and 2023.
Thus, 9th grade girls were the largest factor in the latest drop, with the percentage of girls identifying as LGB nearly cut in half, decreasing from 30 percent in 2021 to 17 percent in 2025.
Senior girls had a much smaller drop, going from a high of 28 percent in 2023 to 25 percent in 2025.
More specifically, the shift was largely due to girls’ decline in identifying as bisexual, with 9th graders showing the largest change. Despite 26 percent of 9th grade girls identifying as bisexual in 2021, only 13 percent identified with that sexual orientation in 2025, Twenge concluded.
— Eric Kaufmann (@epkaufm) September 28, 2026Also of note, 2023’s underclassmen, those who were 9th or 10th graders during that year’s survey, showed less than a two-point drop, while upperclassmen, 11th and 12th graders, did so in 2025. This suggests that the drop is predominantly due to newer students not identifying as LGB, rather than students who had previously identified as one of those three options now leaving those sexual orientations behind.
Because self-identification of sexual orientation does not perfectly line up with how one acts, Twenge included the rate at which a small portion of sexually active teens choose partners of the same sex.
While boys are seeing a slow but steady increase in having same-sex partners, passing just over 10 percent, girls are seeing double the rate at over 20 percent, as well as nearly a 10 percent drop in same-sex partners since 2021. (How Trump Ended The Left’s Globalist LGBTQ Agenda)
Twenge said that the data is not able to predict if this change will continue, nor is she able to conclude any definitive reasons as to why 9th-grade girls are dropping in their identification as LGB.
