Last Friday, Gallup published an article on a poll it conducted regarding the percentage of the population that identifies as LGBTQ+. There were several interesting trends that it uncovered.

7.2% of the population now identifies as LGBTQ+. Gallup’s polling now includes the identifiers “queer,” “pansexual,” and “asexual,” which broadened the spectrum somewhat.

The disparity in generations is stark. The cohort aged 19-26, a portion of Gen Z, has the most people claiming to be LGBTQ+ — 20.8% of the Zoomers they polled claimed to be on the spectrum of sexual identities. This is compared to only 10.5% of Millennials, 4.2% of Gen X, and 2.6% of Boomers.

Another interesting trend that was worth noting was the palpable jump in identifying as LGBTQ+. In 2017, only 4.5% of the population claimed this identity, and that remained steady until 2020, when it jumped to 5.6%. Between 2020-2021, however, the jump was much more drastic: 5.6% became 7.1%. As liberal comedian Bill Maher pointed out in his hilarious sketch last May, “If we follow this trajectory, we will all be gay in 2054.”

What could have possibly happened to bring this about?

Gallup concludes there are more LGBTQ+ people because Americans are more accepting of homosexuals and the like. That may be true to some extent, but claiming this sort of debunks the “born this way” narrative, and it denies the other obvious factors that have played into the trends. For one thing, if it was about acceptance and not innate wiring, why is it that only Gen Z and Millennials have seen a rise in LGBTQ+ identification? All the other generations have remained steady percentage wise. Why this sudden jump overall?

Social contagion? Lockdown boredom? Chronically online people who have no idea how to function in society? Victim status credibility in the wake of inflamed identity politics? The realistic answer is “all the above.”

What this says for the dating scene is that it’s complicated. These young adults of Gen Z (most of whom don’t have fully developed frontal lobes yet) are experimenting with all the 600 gender identifications, navigating multiple dating and/or sexual partners, all feeling like they are still trapped in high school because they were not allowed to emotionally mature. They have been encouraged to be the “me generation,” and as many sage older people have pointed out, relationships that work well are sacrificial, not rapacious. Many young political pundits have described dating as “catching the last flight out of ‘Nam” because Gen Z dating is a hot mess. It’s rare that a 19- to 26-year-old has been satisfied in his or her dating experiences.

As for what this says about Gen Alpha, who are completing high school and middle school and are on the front lines of the gender ideology indoctrination in their public schools, Bill Maher also offered an apt description of their plight: “Cannon fodder for the culture wars.”

There actually may be hope, however, and it has to do with the Gen Z generation that is coming of age at the moment and entering the adult world. They are the first generation that has been preached to about gender ideology and been creatures of the digital age whose lives are mostly online. They are finding out what works and doesn’t work in adulthood.

Podcaster Brett Cooper has a very interesting 10-minute monologue that documents Gen Z TikTokers poking fun at the radical Left’s ideas about gender ideology, polycules (multi-person relationship situation), and other ridiculousness like the pronoun and deadnaming nonsense. They are clearly fatigued and are wide awake to the absurdity that the LGBTQ+ mob has pushed. There is a general sense that these activists have gone too far and that many in this generation are seeking more traditional lives of monogamy and straight relationships.

Perhaps, given a few years, Gen Z and Millennials may see a downward trend in LBGTQ+ identification. This will only happen though if being straight is no longer considered “oppressive” but is recognized as the means to a healthy, flourishing, and functioning society.