Bisexual Drop-Off Shocks Schools

Students with backpacks enter a school under a balloon arch — Photo: Ringo Chiu / Shutterstock

A new federal survey shows ninth-grade girls reporting lesbian or bisexual identities dropped sharply between 2021 and 2025, raising hard questions about what shifted and why.

Story Snapshot

Federal survey estimates show a steep fall in ninth-grade girls reporting lesbian or bisexual identities since 2021.
Most of the drop comes from fewer girls choosing the bisexual label, according to reported calculations.
The survey measures identity, not fixed orientation, and response options varied across years.
Experts warn the data are cross-sectional and do not prove why teens changed what they report.

What The New Survey Trend Actually Shows

New reporting on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey says ninth-grade girls identifying as lesbian or bisexual fell from about 30% in 2021 to 17% in 2025, with bisexual responses dropping by roughly half. The instrument asks about sexual identity, not attraction or behavior, and is filled out in school settings. These estimates describe different student groups across years, not the same teens over time. That limits what the numbers can prove about personal change.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey offers several identity options, including heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual, another identity, questioning, and not understanding the question. Reported analyses focused on three labels to align categories across years, which can affect the final percentages. The data user guide explains sampling, weighting, and response rates. The 2025 cycle had modest overall response, which analysts must consider when judging trends and potential nonresponse bias.

Why The Decline Is Hard To Explain With One Cause

The 2021-to-2025 comparison uses cross-sectional snapshots, so it cannot show that the same girls changed labels. It also cannot isolate causes like peer influence, school climate, politics, or safety concerns. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention separates identity from attraction and behavior, which means reported identity can shift without a change in underlying orientation. Analysts also note that confidence intervals were not provided in popular write-ups, leaving uncertainty around the exact size of the change.

Media coverage shows two frames competing for attention. Some outlets highlight a sharp drop and link it to culture or school messaging, while others stress measurement limits and caution against quick conclusions. The word “free fall” can overstate what descriptive data prove when the cause is unclear. Responsible reading keeps two facts in view: the trend is real in these estimates, and the mechanism remains unsettled without deeper, respondent-level evidence.

What Research Says About Teen Identity Over Time

Longitudinal studies of adolescents find several paths: some youths keep the same identity, some move among labels, and some continue to integrate identity as they mature. One study reported that many teens stayed consistent while others shifted, including moves from bisexual to gay or lesbian identities. Another three-wave study identified groups that were mostly plurisexual or consistently questioning, showing that development is not a single fixed track for all teens. These findings help explain why identity trends can change without a single driver.

We want to be left alone. Whoever is seeing this please know that if they allege to be talking to us that it’s not true. We are all only in ninth grade or still eighth and these girls are harassing us and bullying for information to feed this story

— Angel (@prettyangel733) October 28, 2026

These studies also link identity development to mental health. More integrated identity was tied to fewer depressive and anxious symptoms and higher self-esteem in youth samples. That underscores a core point both right and left can agree on: teens need safe, honest spaces to sort identity without pressure. When politics turns schools into battlegrounds, students can feel pushed to declare or to hide. Either way, the signal in surveys may bend, while the real needs of kids go unmet.

How To Get Clarity Without The Spin

Researchers could reanalyze the microdata with clear, preregistered rules that include all identity options and provide confidence intervals. They could test whether the trend holds across race, region, and school type. They could check if response patterns changed as participation shifted in 2025. The strongest test would follow the same teens over several years, linking identity, attraction, behavior, school climate, and perceived safety, while protecting privacy and dignity.

Parents, teachers, and policymakers should resist easy wins for their side. The data show a big swing in reported identity among ninth-grade girls. They do not tell us why. Until better evidence arrives, we should focus on what helps teens thrive: clear information, respect for families, honest teaching, and school environments where no one is shamed for speaking or staying quiet. That is how we get facts we can trust and kids who can grow.