Retreat from identity labels: Does the sharply declining number of young teens identifying as gay and bisexual reflect an ideological shift? Washington Post | October 15, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/10/15/retreat-from-identity-labels-does-the-sharply-declining-number-of-young-teens-identifying-as-gay-and-bisexual-reflect-an-ideological-shift/ The share of young teenagers identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual has dropped sharply in just four years — and nobody is quite sure why. As the Washington Post’s Casey Parks reports, a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data finds the steepest decline among ninth-grade girls: 30 percent identified as lesbian or bisexual in 2021, compared with 17 percent in 2025.