Fresh CDC survey figures suggest fewer American teenagers identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual in 2025, particularly among younger girls. The change has prompted debate about whether it reflects a lasting cultural shift, changing labels, or simply a short-term fluctuation in how teenagers describe themselves.

Essential Takeaways

  • A notable fall: LGB identification among ninth-graders reportedly dropped from 17% in 2023 to 11% in 2025.
  • Girls drove the change: Among girls, identification fell from 27% to 22%, compared with a smaller decline among boys.
  • Bisexual identification slipped: The sharpest movement was recorded among younger girls identifying as bisexual.
  • The data needs care: Survey percentages describe self-identification, not sexual behaviour, orientation certainty, or personal wellbeing.
  • The outlook is unclear: Researchers say the fall could mark a broader trend, but more data is needed.

Younger teenagers are changing how they describe themselves

The headline finding is hard to miss. Analysis of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance System suggests that the proportion of ninth-graders identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual fell from 17% in 2023 to 11% in 2025. The shift is especially striking because these are young teenagers still working out how they understand themselves.

The change wasn't evenly spread across the school years. Twelfth-graders reportedly moved from 18% to 16%, while the largest decline appeared among ninth-grade pupils. According to the CDC's survey programme, the figures come from a national monitoring effort that tracks health-related experiences and behaviours among secondary-school students.

That distinction matters. A survey answer is a snapshot, not a permanent label carved into stone. Teenagers may change how they identify, may choose not to use a label at all, or may answer differently as the cultural conversation moves around them.

Girls account for most of the movement

The most pronounced shift was among girls. The analysis cited by IBTimes UK found that female students' LGB identification fell from 27% in 2023 to 22% in 2025, while the figure for boys declined from 9% to 7%.

Ninth-grade girls showed the sharpest change of all. Their reported identification fell from 30% in 2021 to 17% in 2025, a substantial movement over a relatively short period. That doesn't, by itself, explain why the numbers changed, but it does point towards the importance of looking at age and sex separately rather than treating teenagers as one uniform group.

The bisexual category appears to have played a sizeable role. Among ninth-grade girls, the reported share identifying as bisexual fell from 26% in 2021 to 13% in 2025, according to coverage of the analysis by UnHerd. Labels can be influenced by friendship groups, social language and the confidence someone has in choosing a particular description, so the figures shouldn't be treated as a simple measure of underlying attraction.

A reversal after years of rapid growth?

The latest numbers follow a period when LGB identification among young people rose sharply. Jean Twenge, the San Diego State University psychologist who analysed the figures, has described the latest fall as a possible turning point, while also warning that it could prove temporary.

That caution is sensible. Survey results can move because of real behavioural change, shifting social acceptance, differences in question wording, or a greater willingness to select one answer over another. A two-year decline may be meaningful, but it isn't enough to establish a permanent generational pattern.

The CDC's wider work also shows why context matters. Its research on LGBTQ+ youth has focused not only on identity, but on mental health, safety, substance use and experiences at school. Those measures are vital because a decline in identification shouldn't automatically be presented as proof that young people are healthier, safer or happier.

Why the numbers are being read so differently

The figures have quickly become a cultural Rorschach test. Supporters of a more cautious approach to youth identity labels see them as evidence that recent growth may have been partly driven by social influence. Others argue that changes in identity language are normal and warn against turning a survey result into a political victory lap.

There are also practical limits to what the data can tell us. It can't establish that teenagers have stopped experiencing same-sex attraction, nor can it show that any particular school policy, online trend or family influence caused the decline. As the Maine Anchor noted in its coverage, the figures are best understood as a signal requiring further research rather than a final verdict.

For parents and teachers, the useful response is less dramatic and more grounded: listen without panic, avoid pressuring a child towards or away from a label, and take mental-health concerns seriously. A teenager's answer today may be sincere and still evolve later. That isn't necessarily contradiction; adolescence is often untidy.

What to watch next

The next rounds of CDC data will show whether the fall continues across several age groups or settles back towards earlier levels. Researchers will also need to examine whether the change is concentrated in identity labels, or whether related measures of relationships, behaviour and wellbeing move in the same direction.

The broader demographic picture matters, too. Axios has reported on widening differences in youth suicide rates between girls and boys, a reminder that identity statistics shouldn't be detached from the wider mental-health landscape. Lower identification alone isn't a wellbeing measure, and higher identification alone isn't a crisis measure.

For now, the safest conclusion is also the most useful one: American teenagers appear to be using LGB labels less often than they did a few years ago, especially younger girls, but the reasons remain unsettled. More careful data, and less triumphalism, would help everyone understand what is really happening.

It's a striking shift, but the next survey will tell us whether it's a trend or a pause.

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