Nearly Two-Fifths Of Brown University Students Identify As LGBT

Although many on the left reject the theory that a rapid rise in young people identifying as LGBT is part of a social contagion, new evidence continues to suggest that such affiliations are growing exponentially within left-wing bastions including college campuses.

The latest evidence comes from Brown University, where the percentage of students who claim to be part of the extensive LGBT spectrum is roughly five times the national average.

A survey by the university’s student paper indicated that the 38% who identify as either homosexual, bisexual, queer, asexual, pansexual, questioning, or other is twice as high as it was when students were asked a similar question in 2010.

In earlier polls, however, there was no option for queer, pansexual, asexual, and questioning, each of which would have been combined within the “other orientations” category.

The largest share of LGBT students was made up by bisexuals, who accounted for nearly 54% of the group. In 2010, that percentage was just over 41%.

Overall, the number of students who now identify as bisexual is roughly 233% higher than it was in the survey conducted 13 years ago. 

During the same period, the share of homosexuals and lesbians on campus grew by a significantly slower 26%. 

Aside from the sheer speed at which LGBT identification is increasing, there is further evidence suggesting that those who claim to be part of this community are doing so to be part of a popular cultural trend.

Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology researcher Eric Kaufmann pointed out that those who say they belong to one of the LGBT orientations are not necessarily acting on their self-assessed identity. 

“What we find instead is that identity is rising much faster than behavior, indicating that people with occasional rather than sustained feelings of attraction to the opposite sex are increasingly identifying as LGBT,” he said.

This fact, Kauffman reasoned, is likely caused by one of two theories, either “that greater tolerance is allowing more to come out of the closet, or Bill Maher’s assertion that LGBT is trendy among some youth.”

Although the percentages are much lower, a similar rate of increase can be seen across the broader population. A Gallup poll conducted last year showed that roughly 7.2% of respondents said they were not heterosexual, which is more than twice the 3.5% who said the same in a 2012 survey.