The younger generation has stopped being ashamed of this: 22% of American Gen Z identify as LGBTQ. The absolute majority of them are bisexuals

Illustrative photo: Tom Hiddleston, Diego Calva and Camila Morrone in the series "The Night Manager". Photo: imdb.com

The share of Americans who identify with the LGBTQ community has more than doubled over the past decade. If in the early 2010s about 3.5% of adult US residents declared such an identity, now, according to Gallup data, it is 7.6%.

The main driver of these changes has been representatives of Generation Z. Among young Americans who have recently entered adulthood, 22.3% identify as LGBTQ — more than one in five. For comparison: among the baby boomer generation — those who are now 70-80 years old — only 2.3%.

The majority of those who identify as LGBTQ declare their bisexuality. Today, 15% of all adult Generation Z representatives identify as bisexual, and among those who identify with the LGBTQ community, people with such an identity make up more than half — 57.3%.

Young women particularly often speak of bisexuality. More than one in five Generation Z women (20.7%) can be classified as bisexual. Among millennial women, about 9% identified as bisexual.

Changes are also occurring among men. Almost 7% of Generation Z men identify as bisexual — this more than doubles the proportion of those who identify as gay (2.8%). Among millennial men, the proportion of bisexuals and gays is approximately equal (2.5% and 2.3% respectively). In addition, more and more young men describe themselves as "mostly heterosexual" rather than exclusively heterosexual.

According to sociologists, it's not just about changing sexual behavior. The younger generation increasingly perceives sexuality less as a set of rigid categories. For many Generation Z representatives, sexual attraction appears more like a spectrum than a dichotomous division into "heterosexuals" and "homosexuals."

In this, as The Wall Street Journal writes, there is nothing fundamentally new. As early as 1948, the author of the famous report on sexuality, Alfred Kinsey, wrote that humanity cannot be divided into two separate groups — heterosexuals and homosexuals. "Not everything in the world is black and not everything is white," he noted.

However, bisexual behavior does not always coincide with bisexual identity. According to Pew Research Center data, 88% of bisexuals who have a steady partner are in heterosexual relationships.

Павялічыць

Illustrative photo. Jacob Anderson (Louis) and Sam Reid (Lestat) in the series "Interview with the Vampire". In recent years, themes of sexual diversity and non-binary identities have increasingly become part of popular culture. Photo: AMCsAnneRice / X

The situation is further complicated by the presence of men who do not consider themselves bisexual, but nevertheless experience romantic or sexual attraction to individuals of their own sex.

Psychologist Rich Savin-Williams, author of the book "Mostly Straight: Sexual Fluidity Among Men", concluded that a significant intermediate group exists between exclusively heterosexual and bisexual men. This refers to people who consider themselves heterosexual and are primarily attracted to women, but may also feel some sexual or romantic attraction to men.

A number of studies, including those using physiological indicators such as measuring pupil dilation when viewing erotic images, have shown that such men differ from both exclusively heterosexual and bisexual men. Savin-Williams calls this group "mostly heterosexual" and believes it is much more widespread than commonly thought.

Other studies also indicate that male sexual orientation is not limited to a simple division into two categories. As the authors of a 2020 study noted, male sexuality exists more on a continuum than as a strict dichotomy.

A survey conducted in 2025 even proposed eight different categories of bisexuality — from people who only sometimes feel attraction to their own sex, to those who would like to have such an experience in the future.

As the WSJ notes, Generation Z representatives are particularly inclined to perceive sexual attraction not as a rigid category, but as a spectrum or scale. They are also more liberal about separating identity and actual behavior, asserts Jean Twenge, author of the book "Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future."

"For Gen Z, what started as acceptance of differences, then turned into acceptance of specific identities, has now become a process of completely rejecting labels," Twenge explains. "Their position is: 'I can easily change tomorrow.' And they treat this absolutely naturally and effortlessly."

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