A quarter of high schoolers identify as LGBTQ

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A new survey suggests that it’s steadily growing in high schools.

Twenty-six percent of high schoolers identify as LGBTQ, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The information was collected in 2021.

The proportion of students who don’t identify as heterosexual has risen 15 percentage points since 2015.  More than 12% identified as bisexual in the 2021 survey, while over 3% of respondents identified as gay or lesbian.

The CDC says this growth could have something to do with how its questions are worded.

The Grand Island chapter of PFLAG says that now, youth might be able to better identify the words that describe them. 

“With some of the new wording that’s come out, I don’t think that it’s changed how people feel,” Chrissy Brooks, the organization’s president, said. “I think that it has put a name and a description to what people were already feeling,” 

Brooks said there are many organizations working together with school staff to make LGBTQ kids feel safe at school. But she said there are still improvements to be made. 

Brooks said that sometimes, identifying someone who is safe for them, like teachers, saves their lives. 

According to the Movement Advancement Project, Nebraska’s total LGBTQ population was about 67,000 in 2020.

That number included children as young as 13.