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Ok, I may have used a click-baity title.

But Gallup polling has shown that the percentage of Americans that identify as LGBT has doubled since 2012, from 3.5% to 7.1%. This rise is fueled by Gen Z (those born after 1997), 20.8% of who identified as LGBT, which is double the rate of Millennials and 4 times the rate of Gen Xers. Because the poll is only given to adults, it's been able to track how the rate has rose year over year as younger members become adults, suggesting that younger members of Gen Z are much more likely to identify as LGBT than the older people in their own generation. If that's true, it stands likely to reason that the rate will only continue to go up.

The polling also suggests this is largely a bisexual revolution. Over half of those who identified as LGBT identified as bi, again led by Gen Z. Gen Zers were twice is likely to identify as bi as Millennials, while being almost as likely to identify as gay or lesbian. It seems Gen Z likes some variety in their sexual diet?

Gen Z is also twice as likely to identify as transgender. Given that the culture wars are now squarely focused on transgender rights, I hope this suggests that transgender people are more comfortable with exploring their feelings surrounding gender and then being open with who they are than their older peers. I hope this in turn means that we're making some much-needed progress in this area.

What do you think the implications of this trend are? Are we headed toward a society where bisexuality becomes the norm?

I don't think bisexuality will become the norm, but I do think it will become more and more normalized in future generations.

If anything, Pansexuality would be more likely to become the norm...especially as we continually see more people feeling comfortable coming out as nonbinary/genderfluid/genderqueer.

But like ENE, I don't think Pansexuality (or Bisexuality) will become the norm just yet, since I think Heterosexuality kind of has a giant foot in that area that I doubt will be lifted up (with homosexuality just starting to gain an equal-ish footing).  I do think it'll become more normal in the sense that I think more people will be comfortable identifying as it for the reason I stated at the beginning...just not the norm.

There's always going to be diehard heterosexuals just as there's always going to be diehard homosexuals, and while I see Pansexuality and Bisexuality becoming more normal over the years, I don't think they're going to overtake the big two areas (Heterosexuals and homosexuals) just yet...just as I don't think the genderqueer/nonbinary/genderfluid folks are going to overtake the Cis/Trans genders just yet despite more people feeling comfortable identifying as the former.

Ultimately pansexuality may become the norm, but before that I think more people will identify as bi because it's the more mainstream label. In a way it's an easier concept to grasp for people who haven't explored the wide worlds of sexuality and gender identity yet. I only discovered the term pan a few years ago, then last year decided that demisexuality better fit me. I hope they don't mind me bringing them up, but I've also been privileged to watch @Dawcreeke in their own exploration over the last few years...evolving from mainstream labels to other labels that better describes the particulars of who they are.

I think identifying as pan or other labels on that level takes more exploration than it does to identify as bi, so it'd take longer for that to become the norm if only for that reason.

Technically, bisexuality has already overtaken homosexuality in Gen Z, according to the poll, which is one of the things I believe is so interesting. There's a chance that many of them will ultimately decide they're gay and the dynamic will change, but it seems to me that younger generations are just genuinely more open to relations regardless of gender...that in itself would be a revolution in how we as a society view gender roles and relations, and it's exciting to think that could come about in our lifetimes.

Technically, bisexuality has already overtaken homosexuality in Gen Z, according to the poll, which is one of the things I believe is so interesting. There's a chance that many of them will ultimately decide they're gay and the dynamic will change, but it seems to me that younger generations are just genuinely more open to relations regardless of gender...that in itself would be a revolution in how we as a society view gender roles and relations, and it's exciting to think that could come about in our lifetimes.

This bit actually doesn't surprise me, since being "bi-curious" has been a big thing to where I remember at many points in the past years (even since I was attending Uni in like 2007) folks in both the LGBTQ+ and Hetero communities have been continually annoyed with the bisexual community for that reason...because they felt like most folks were identifying as such because it was a "trend" and then miraculously coming out as specifically gay or straight shortly after (and yes, I remember when the hetero community cried out how coming out as gay was the new "trend" for a bit since some folks came out as such and then miraculously decided they were straight).  So in that sense, nothing really has changed to where folks question their sexual identity and quickly label themselves, only for many of them to hop onto one specific side later.

That's usually why I kinda take that stuff with a grain of salt when I hear about a rise in people coming out as bisexual...since I've seen it before, heard the annoyances from both sides, and seen enough people fall back on that coming out as bi and transitioning over to exclusively gay/straight.  Whether it be because they were pressured by folks to "pick a side" or whether it was because they themselves felt pressured to "play the field and explore" a bit rather than being comfortable with what they were into, or whether they just wanted to test out some labels just to see what stuck, I dunno.  But yeah, I tend to take it with a grain of salt.

I definitely don't doubt that some folks do stick with it, just as I don't doubt there are actual Pansexual and Demisexual folks out there they don't care about the labels, but I feel like because Bisexuality is seen as such a mainstream thing, it's easy for it to just be a transitional type of label while people figure themselves out rather than the permanent label that many who come out as such end up sticking with.

@Michi: My feeling is that this may be more than that. I think there's less pressure for people to pick a side (especially the straight side) now, and that allows people to be less rigid in coming to what they identify as.

I also believe that few people are completely straight or gay and things have historically skewed toward one end or the other because of that stigma and pressure. Just to emphasize I don't believe that everyone is bi/pan, just more than you would think based on current numbers. Because heterosexuality was such an important norm until recently in society, I think it not only kept people who had discovered they were anything but from coming out, but also discouraged people from exploring their sexuality at all. I know people who believed they were straight, but had just the right experience with just the right person, and it started them down their path of exploration. It would be hard for those sorts of experiences to happen until recently, so I'm thinking over time more people will identify as some kind of bi or bansexuality, even if it's not the 50/50 thing that its often portrayed as.

But ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see. If in future polls we see the rate of people who identify as bi in Gen Z start to decline we'll know that things aren't so different after all. For now we're just left with interesting possibilities.

@Michi: My feeling is that this may be more than that. I think there's less pressure for people to pick a side (especially the straight side) now, and that allows people to be less rigid in coming to what they identify as.

I also believe that few people are completely straight or gay and things have historically skewed toward one end or the other because of that stigma and pressure. Just to emphasize I don't believe that everyone is bi/pan, just more than you would think based on current numbers. Because heterosexuality was such an important norm until recently in society, I think it not only kept people who had discovered they were anything but from coming out, but also discouraged people from exploring their sexuality at all. I know people who believed they were straight, but had just the right experience with just the right person, and it started them down their path of exploration. It would be hard for those sorts of experiences to happen until recently, so I'm thinking over time more people will identify as some kind of bi or bansexuality, even if it's not the 50/50 thing that its often portrayed as.

But ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see. If in future polls we see the rate of people who identify as bi in Gen Z start to decline we'll know that things aren't so different after all. For now we're just left with interesting possibilities.

Oh I don't disagree, believe me.  I'm one of those folks who believes that everyone is more than likely Pansexual (and we've definitely had the talks where I've said I believe it's more percentages than a spectrum...a talk I remember Nyght getting especially annoyed by since he was absolutely sure he was 100% gay and wouldn't hear otherwise)...but we're just so pushed to love a specific person that even if we're not outright pressured to labeling ourselves as specifically attracted to one type, it's definitely ingrained into us.  We're told what's attractive, what's not attractive, what we like, what we don't like, those on top of what genders are more desirable for our biological gender, and an assortment of other factors rather than just letting folks decide for themselves what they like and what they're attracted to.

I'm just going off of more of what I've seen overall.  It's very easy to put a label on that you're not sure about as a means to explore your sexuality, rather than just explore it without worrying what other folks think.  Just as it's easy for, say, a celebrity to never say what they are sexually but for others to put the label on for them because of their own fantasies with that celebrity or because they just happened to have a relationship or two with the opposite gender (which automatically means they're straight 100% even if they've never confirmed it themselves /s).

Where was I? Right.  Labels are easy.  People should just feel like they can explore without having to say they're X while exploring.  And I'm more inclined to believe that nobody is really truly X or Y or Z or the batman symbol, we're just brought up and taught to feel that way.  In reality, we're probably more all encompassing, but we're just made to believe that we should only go one direction.

Kind of like the topic of Monogamy and the idea of settling down with just one person for your entire life, but that's a conversation for elsewhere.

@Michi: My feeling is that this may be more than that. I think there's less pressure for people to pick a side (especially the straight side) now, and that allows people to be less rigid in coming to what they identify as.

I also believe that few people are completely straight or gay and things have historically skewed toward one end or the other because of that stigma and pressure. Just to emphasize I don't believe that everyone is bi/pan, just more than you would think based on current numbers. Because heterosexuality was such an important norm until recently in society, I think it not only kept people who had discovered they were anything but from coming out, but also discouraged people from exploring their sexuality at all. I know people who believed they were straight, but had just the right experience with just the right person, and it started them down their path of exploration. It would be hard for those sorts of experiences to happen until recently, so I'm thinking over time more people will identify as some kind of bi or bansexuality, even if it's not the 50/50 thing that its often portrayed as.

But ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see. If in future polls we see the rate of people who identify as bi in Gen Z start to decline we'll know that things aren't so different after all. For now we're just left with interesting possibilities.

Oh I don't disagree, believe me.  I'm one of those folks who believes that everyone is more than likely Pansexual (and we've definitely had the talks where I've said I believe it's more percentages than a spectrum...a talk I remember Nyght getting especially annoyed by since he was absolutely sure he was 100% gay and wouldn't hear otherwise)...but we're just so pushed to love a specific person that even if we're not outright pressured to labeling ourselves as specifically attracted to one type, it's definitely ingrained into us.  We're told what's attractive, what's not attractive, what we like, what we don't like, those on top of what genders are more desirable for our biological gender, and an assortment of other factors rather than just letting folks decide for themselves what they like and what they're attracted to.

I'm just going off of more of what I've seen overall.  It's very easy to put a label on that you're not sure about as a means to explore your sexuality, rather than just explore it without worrying what other folks think.  Just as it's easy for, say, a celebrity to never say what they are sexually but for others to put the label on for them because of their own fantasies with that celebrity or because they just happened to have a relationship or two with the opposite gender (which automatically means they're straight 100% even if they've never confirmed it themselves /s).

Where was I? Right.  Labels are easy.  People should just feel like they can explore without having to say they're X while exploring.  And I'm more inclined to believe that nobody is really truly X or Y or Z or the batman symbol, we're just brought up and taught to feel that way.  In reality, we're probably more all encompassing, but we're just made to believe that we should only go one direction.

Kind of like the topic of Monogamy and the idea of settling down with just one person for your entire life, but that's a conversation for elsewhere.

But in this case you could interpret it as the bi label simply gaining more acceptance. As people become more comfortable identifying with that label, so too will it be more normalized that you can swing all the ways.

@Michi: And that conversation does exist.

I try to state that opinion as carefully as possible because it actually tends to offend gay people more than straight people, and I understand. They have to explore, reflect, and often face a reckoning to come out, and here somebody's saying telling them they're something else? I'm not saying it's impossible to be completely gay or straight, and I certainly don't want to invalidate anybody in expressing that opinion. But I do think many people have a latent pansexuality that's ready to come out and assert itself if they have the right experience with the right person. I think that's what we're seeing here...more people openly into same-sex experiences means more experiences are happening with more people and thus more people identify as bi.

I think a lot of younger people struggle with labels as they're exploring...maybe you have an experience with the same sex, but does that make you gay or bi? Is it just a phase? Is it normal for people to have a hot experience (or maybe just a fantasy) and still be straight? It's very confusing, and it's hard to put those feelings and uncertainties into words, so they're stuck with labels that may not be just right for them ultimately. They should feel like they can explore without doing so, but I understand the convenience a label can provide.