Are social influences a factor in this?
7% of American adults identify as LGBT.
28% is a
massive number.
The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender has increased to 7.1%. This is driven by high LGBT self-identification, particularly as bisexual, among Generation Z adults.
news.gallup.com
Of course it is. Gen Z has come of age in an era fully immersed in the idea of your identity group as the defining social structure of society. You see it with the huge rise in fascination with Myers Briggs all over again, as well as greatly expanding the definition of things like "mental illness" so almost everyone can claim one. They are doing the same with LGBTQ, expand into so many definitions that anyone can apply.
Cranky old folks like to say that everyone is trying to claim victimhood. For some people maybe, but it's not that nefarious I don't think. We grew up where you were easily defined by where you were from, what you did, what you were into, how much money you had, and regular social types like jock, nerd, burnout, etc that had a certain amount of mobility between them.
Gen Z has been taught that their identity group IS who they are. You have to be something. If you aren't an oppressed class, not neurodivergent, not LGBTQ...what exactly are you? You can't just say, well,
I'm normal. I think it's to be expected.
I don't know if its something they will grow out of or what. Because the weird side effect of it is, if everyone is LGBTQ, or everyone has mental illness, then nobody does. I think you will either see these labels lose much of their political power, or you will start to see strenuous gatekeeping by the real advocates/activists. This definition creep definitely can have real negatives for the cause if it goes unchecked.
