Young People Are Two Times More Likely to Identify as LGBTQ+

Evening Meteor readers,

My child has been making little paintings of animals for the last few days, and I’ve decided to retire as a writer and live off of what is sure to be her prolific career as an artist. So I guess this is goodbye. I’ll remember to invite all of you to her opening night at The Met.

“THE LAST PENGUIN” BY THE ARTIST KNOWN ONLY AS V

In today’s newsletter, we congratulate all the people who told Gallup they were queer. Plus, how Olivia Rodrigo is setting the standard for politically minded artists, and our weekend reading list.

Ce n’est pas un pingouin,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

We’re here, we’re queer: Yesterday, Gallup released the findings of a major 12,000-person 2023 survey on sexual orientation and gender identity, revealing a sharp increase in young adults identifying as queer over the last few years. “LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as…some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual.” This is a notable uptick from just four years ago, when just 5.6% of adults identified as LGBTQ+.

So: Who’s most likely to say they’re LGBTQ+? First of all, young people. According to the data, Gen Z and millennials are twice as likely to identify as LGBTQ+ than older generations.

And the rise is also being driven by women. Among Gen Z respondents—the group who most self-identified as LGBTQ+—women were almost three times as likely as men to do so (28.5% of them did, vs 10.6% of men). The report also includes an important note: “The gender differences reported…do not account for the nonbinary population.” We’ll have to wait for further surveys to understand how the roughly 1% of Americans who consider themselves nonbinary identify.

This is exactly the kind of data that rankles conservative lawmakers, and they’re likely to use it as a prime example of the degradation of core American values (life, liberty, and the pursuit of heteronormativity). But given the documented consequences of being unable to live life on your own terms—from depression and loneliness to suicide—the fact that so many young (and youngish) people are identifying as LGBTQ+ suggests tremendous progress in how comfortable they feel. Previous research suggests Gen Z is better equipped with “a language of gender” and peer support than previous generations were.

So while extremists might see these numbers as proof of the “gay agenda,” they can also be seen as proof of societal progress—which couldn’t come at a more urgent time, considering the dark cloud of violence towards LGBTQ+ teenagers stoked by fearmongering adults like Moms for Liberty, Libs of Tiktok, and more. And the death of Nex Benedict, a transgender teenager in Oklahoma who died in February after a physical altercation at his school, shows just how fatal that violence can be. (An early autopsy report has ruled Benedict’s death a suicide, an outcome that is all too common among transgender youth—no doubt connected to the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation, schools that don’t punish bullies, and more)

Against that backdrop, a question for all of us: Now that we know so many young people are queer, what are we doing to protect them?

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts you can reach a counselor via The Trevor Project by clicking here or texting 678-678.  

AND:

• Singer Olivia Rodrigo’s concerts have the best merchandise: On Tuesday, in St. Louis, local advocacy groups and the Missouri Abortion Fund handed out free condoms and Plan B to attendees.

• Chat GPT offers a new service called Black Female Therapist. Actual Black female therapists are skeptical but also not worried about being replaced by an AI bot. As one therapist told Refinery29, “Well, humans need humans. And to me, therapy is a relational relationship.”

• Environmental researchers have determined that toxic air in Louisiana is responsible for pre-term and low-weight births—in some cases going back generations.

• The Mexican government is suing American gun manufacturers and distributors for the influx of guns in the country and the subsequent violence it has caused. Wow, a government going head-to-head with gunmakers! Can you imagine?

• As the U.S. flirts with a ban on TikTok, those who use it most explain how it has changed their lives.

• Reign FC, the soccer team that was once the home of Megan Rapinoe, will be retiring the star’s jersey this summer. The team’s general manager said in a statement, “The number 15 jersey will forever be remembered for not only the person who wore it but for everything and everyone she represented along her journey with the club.” Rapinoe’s jersey will have its send-off at Lumen Field in Seattle on August 25th, and I hope my boss already knows that I will not be at work that day.

FRIENDLY REMINDER! 

As I mentioned on Tuesday some of us at The Meteor will be cobbling together our limited knowledge of the inner workings of women’s college basketball and making official NCAA brackets. But wouldn’t it be more fun to do it with our readers?

Selection Sunday is THIS weekend so put your women’s bracket together and send a PDF of it to [email protected]. As the tournament progresses, I’ll track everyone’s picks until there’s only one bracketologist left standing. That lucky duck (get it? DUCK! Yes, I am placing Oregon high on my bracket don’t judge me.) will get a fabulous Meteor tote and bragging rights. The cut-off for sending in your brackets is the evening of March 20, we’re closing up the party after that. May the three-pointers be ever in your favor.

ME TO MY COWORKERS IF I WIN THIS THING

WEEKEND READING 📚

On not calling the cops: In 2020, a young girl in New Orleans reported that she had been raped by a friend and then pressured to complete a rape kit. But shortly after that horrific day she was sexually assaulted again and this time her assailant was the police officer who escorted her to the hospital for that first rape kit. (The Washington Post)

On the lookout: The internet wildfire surrounding Catherine, Princess of Wales, has shed light on a larger issue of how the general public can feel such strong ownership over one woman’s body. (The Atlantic)

On knowing thyself: “The moral case for letting trans kids change their bodies.” (Intelligencer)

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