Right-Wing Media Calls Growing LGBTQ+ Self-Identification A ‘Social Contagion’
A new survey published by Brown University’s student newspaper found that 38% of students do not identify as straight — over five times the national rate.
When compared to The Herald’s first surveyed sexual orientation in its Fall 2010 poll, which found that around 14% of respondents answered that they were not straight, that number has more than doubled. “Brown’s queer community is much greater than the national average among adults,” The Brown Daily Herald reported. “Gallup polls from 2022 found that only 7.2% of adults — and 19.7% of those aged 18 to 25 — identified as LGBTQ+.” “Since Fall 2010, Brown’s LGBTQ+ population has expanded considerably.
The gay or lesbian population has increased by 26% and the percentage of students identifying as bisexual has increased by 232%.
Students identifying as other sexual orientations within the LGBTQ+ community have increased by 793%.” Brown Student Josephine Kovecses told The Herald that the difference between national LGBTQ+ demographics and Brown LGBTQ+ demographics is not a challenging puzzle to solve. “Queer people haven’t been able to be open in their identifications for that long,” Kovecses said. “So it’s exciting that the numbers are growing and that queer people are able to be open in particular at Brown.” But that’s not how some on the far right see the new data.
