According to a recent survey conducted at Brown University, a significant portion of the student population, more than one-third, does not identify as heterosexual. As reported by the Brown Daily Herald, the university's student newspaper, the survey conducted in the spring of 2023 indicated a noteworthy increase in the self-identification of LGBTQ+ students compared to 2010.
The findings revealed that 38 percent of the respondents did not identify as straight. Among this group, 22.9 percent identified as gay or lesbian, while 53.7 percent identified as bisexual. This data highlights the diverse range of sexual orientations within the student body.
According to the student newspaper, recent surveys have added more options "to better represent the Brown community" since they first asked about sexual orientation in the fall of 2010. "Queer," "Pansexual," "Asexual," and "Questioning/Unsure" are new additions.
The number of respondents who self-identified as gay or lesbian within the subgroup has decreased from 46% in The Brown Daily Herald's fall 2010 survey due to the addition of more options, according to the publication. Additionally, the article stated that students were "more likely to identify with a more diverse range of sexual orientations in recent years, other than homosexual and bisexual."
Although some claim that students are more open to coming out, others claim that social pressures are to blame for the rise in LGBTQ+ identification.
"There are two theories," Eric Kaufmann, a professor at the University of London, told the College Fix last year. "Either greater tolerance is allowing more to come out of the closet, or [liberal comedian] Bill Maher's assertion that LGBT is fashionable among some youth."
According to a report Kaufmann wrote as a research fellow for the conservative Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, he thinks the second theory fits the data better. According to him, more people are identifying as LGBT because "identity is rising much faster than behavior, indicating that people with occasional rather than sustained feelings of attraction to the opposite sex are doing so.
The most recent poll of Brown University students comes in the wake of a Gallup study from a year ago that discovered an increase in "LGBT identification" nationwide over the previous ten years. According to the survey, 7.2% of American adults identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or non-heterosexual. About one-fifth of Generation Z adults, or those between the ages of 19 and 25, identified as LGBTQ+.
According to the student newspaper, recent surveys have added more options "to better represent the Brown community" since they first asked about sexual orientation in the fall of 2010. "Queer," "Pansexual," "Asexual," and "Questioning/Unsure" are new additions.
The number of respondents who self-identified as gay or lesbian within the subgroup has decreased from 46% in The Brown Daily Herald's fall 2010 survey due to the addition of more options, according to the publication. Additionally, the article stated that students were "more likely to identify with a more diverse range of sexual orientations in recent years, other than homosexual and bisexual."
Although some claim that students are more open to coming out, others claim that social pressures are to blame for the rise in LGBTQ+ identification.
"There are two theories," Eric Kaufmann, a professor at the University of London, told the College Fix last year. "Either greater tolerance is allowing more to come out of the closet, or [liberal comedian] Bill Maher's assertion that LGBT is fashionable among some youth."
According to a report Kaufmann wrote as a research fellow for the conservative Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, he thinks the second theory fits the data better. According to him, more people are identifying as LGBT because "identity is rising much faster than behavior, indicating that people with occasional rather than sustained feelings of attraction to the opposite sex are doing so.
The most recent poll of Brown University students comes in the wake of a Gallup study from a year ago that discovered an increase in "LGBT identification" nationwide over the previous ten years. According to the survey, 7.2% of American adults identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or non-heterosexual. About one-fifth of Generation Z adults, or those between the ages of 19 and 25, identified as LGBTQ+.
