1 in 4 high school students identifies as LGBTQ

About 1 in 4 high school students identifies as LGBTQ, according to a report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Thursday, using data from 2021. 

In 2021, 75.5 percent of high school students identified as heterosexual, the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) found. 

Among high school students, 12.2 percent identified as bisexual, 5.2 percent as questioning, 3.9 percent as other, 3.2 percent as gay or lesbian and 1.8 percent said they didn’t understand the question. 

The CDC says the number of LGBTQ students went from 11 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2021.

The health organization said a potential reason for the increase in LGBTQ students could be from their wording around students who are questioning their sexuality. 

“Increases in the percentage of LGBQ+ students in YRBSS 2021 might be a result of changes in question wording to include students identifying as questioning, ‘I am not sure about my sexual identity (questioning),’ or other, ‘I describe my sexual identity in some other way,’” the report reads. 

Among the high school students, 57 percent have had no sexual contact in their lives, 34.6 percent had sexual contact with someone of the opposite sex, 6 percent had sexual contact with both sexes and only 2.4 percent had sexual contact with only the same sex. 

The CDC surveyed 17,508 students in 152 schools across the country.