What is Behind the Generational Jump in Bisexual Identity?

One in eight Gen Zers now identifies as bisexual

The number of Americans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is on the rise. A recent Gallup poll found that seven percent of Americans are now LGBT. Over the past 10 years, the number of LGBT Americans has doubled in size. 

But that’s not the most interesting part of Gallup’s report. There is a fascinating generational pattern as well. Young adults express far greater fluidity in their sexual preferences and identities than previous generations. One in five Gen Zers are LGBT. What’s remarkable is how much this increase is driven by the rapid growth of bisexual identity. The vast majority of Gen Z LGBT people are bisexual. This is not true for Baby Boomers—the majority of LGBT Boomers are either gay or lesbian. 

An Invisible Rise

The dramatic rise of bisexual identity is somewhat ironic given that bisexual people receive little public attention or comment. Recent public discussions and legislative efforts—whether it’s bans on drag brunches or transgender athletes—mostly ignore bisexual people. National media outlets are similarly much more focused on stories about gay, lesbian, and transgender people. 

Even now, news stories and Gallup’s own research report frame this new evidence as representing a notable rise in people who identify as LGBT. Yet there has been very little change in the number of people who identify as gay or lesbian. 

It’s not only research questions that ignore bisexual people—polls almost never include questions specifically about bisexual people either. When it comes to questions about discrimination and public policy, most pollsters lump bisexual people together with people who identify as gay, lesbian, and transgender. This severely constrains our knowledge and limits our understanding of bisexual people.  

After all, we’re not trying to figure out why so many more people are gay or lesbian but to explain the dramatic increase in bisexual identity, especially among young adults.

Social Influence 

Declining social stigma is one theory for why more people are identifying publicly as bisexual. Americans today are far more accepting of people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual than they were even a few years ago. Phil Jones, a political scientist at the University of Delaware, agrees that this may explain the rise. Jones says, “It could be because there’s now less stigma attached to being bisexual, so people are now more comfortable identifying that way publicly.” 

But this feels incomplete as an explanation. It may not be just the absence of stigma that explains the rise in bisexual identity, but a cultural shift that increasingly values openness and flexibility in matters of sexual identity. Americans embedded in social environments that reinforce or reward certain identities are more likely to adopt them. 

Such is the case for young women. More than two-thirds of young women report having at least a few close friends who identify as LGBT, compared to only about half of young men. They also spend a great deal more time on social media, which can expose them to and affirm certain identities or behaviors and provide a type of algorithmic endorsement.  

And this is exactly what our research shows. Young women report far higher rates of bisexual identity than anyone else. Roughly two-thirds of people who self-identify as bisexual are women, most of whom are under the age of 30. 

A Question of Labels 

But this is not the only explanation worth considering. Another possibility is that bisexuality has become more of a catch-all category for having a fluid approach to sexuality. For people who are not definitively attracted to one gender, or who may be figuring it out, bisexual identity might best reflect how they think of themselves. They know they are not straight but are less clear on where they fit.  

Writing in The Hill, Daniel Vise interviewed experts who believe that labels such as bisexuality have taken on more expansive meanings. He writes: 

The categories themselves have not been static. The definition of bisexuality has expanded in recent years to embrace a broader view of gender and a growing range of LGBTQ subgroups, populations that don’t always fit within the strictures of a one-word label. 

There’s some evidence for this theory. Most people who identify as bisexual are not “equally” attracted to both men and women. In our recent survey, we found that only 31 percent of people who identify as bisexual report being equally attracted to both genders. Rather, the majority of bisexual people report leaning one way or the other when it comes to feelings of physical attraction. Thirty-seven percent say they are mostly attracted to men, and 23 percent report they are mostly attracted to women. 

That bisexual identity includes a wider array of sexual preferences would explain why it’s a less salient social marker among those who identify. Bisexual people are far less likely than gay and lesbian people to say that their sexual identity is an important part of who they are. Less than one in four (24 percent) bisexual Americans say this identity is very or extremely important to them. In contrast, 56 percent of gay and lesbian people say that their sexual identity is an important part of how they think of themselves. 

For bisexual people, confusion about bisexuality can serve as source of frustration and self-doubt. A 2019 Pew study found that, while 75 percent of gay and lesbian people were “out” to their family, only 19 percent of bisexual people said the same. Even as stigmas have declined, misconceptions about bisexuality are common. A 2021 New York Times story reported on a woman who knew from a young age that she was bisexual but struggled with her identity and to feel accepted by both her gay and straight friends. She felt alienated and anxious about the fact that she did not fit perfectly into one box or the other.  

And that may be the difference. Americans whose sexuality is not something that fits neatly in a check box may find that bisexuality comes closest, even if it’s not completely right.