By Carl Campanile
Originally published by the New York Post on December 24, 2018.
The number of Big Apple high-school students identifying solely as heterosexual has plummeted as more teens describe themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or without a defined sexual orientation, a new survey reveals.
Nearly one in four teens, 23.6 percent, now identify in categories other than straight — the highest level ever recorded, the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey has found.
The biennial school-based surveys are conducted by the city Health Department in concert with the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Surveyed students were asked, “Which of the following best describes you?”
More than three in four, 76.4 percent, said they were “heterosexual (straight),” 3.1 percent said “gay or lesbian,” 7.6 percent said “bisexual,” 3.8 percent said “not sure” and 9.1 percent said none of the choices accurately describes them.
The 2017 study marked the first time the last option was provided.
But it is clear that more students are identifying as homosexual or sexually fluid.
In the 2015 survey, 85 percent of student respondents identified as straight and 15 percent as gay, lesbian, bisexual or not sure.
In 2007, 92 percent of students identified as straight and only 8 percent said they were lesbian, gay, bisexual or not sure.
One lawmaker said the data more accurately reflect the sexual orientation of young people as teens today more honestly describe their identity amid a lessening of discrimination.
“The stigma of being LGBTQ is gone,” said Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm, a former public-school teacher who is openly gay. “I don’t think it matters to young people. The students are more open than in my generation.”
“They are being more honest, and it’s a good thing that they’re being more honest.”
Dromm also noted that more young people are more fluid about their sexuality and are saying, “Don’t put me in a box.”
He said the results reminded him of the landmark 1948 sexual-behavior study by zoologist Alfred Kinsey and others that established the Kinsey Scale to rate people’s sexual orientation from exclusively straight to exclusively gay with gradations in between.
The survey’s assessment, Dromm said, will enable the city to better provide medical services and programs for LGBTQ youth.
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