CDC reports 1 in 4 high school students identify as LGBTQ

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately one in four high school students identifies as LGBTQ. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System surveyed 17,508 students in 152 schools across the United States and found that 75.5 percent of high school students identified as heterosexual in 2021.

The study showed that 12.2 percent of students identified as bisexual, 5.2 percent as questioning, 3.9 percent as other, and 3.2 percent as gay or lesbian. Interestingly, 1.8 percent of respondents indicated that they did not understand the question.

The report shows an increase in the percentage of LGBTQ students from 11 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2021.

“Increases in the percentage of LGBQ+ students in YRBSS 2021 might be a result of changes in question-wording to include students identifying as questioning, ‘I am not sure about my sexual identity (questioning),’ or other, ‘I describe my sexual identity in some other way,’” the report reads.

The report also shows that 57 percent of high school students have had no sexual contact in their lives, while 34.6 percent had sexual contact with someone of the opposite sex, and only 2.4 percent had sexual contact with only the same sex. Six percent of students had sexual contact with both sexes.