Straight students may soon be able to claim minority status at Brown University if the trend continues.
A spring survey conducted by the Brown Daily Herald, the campus newspaper, found that 38% of students self-reported as LGBTQ+, almost tripling the 14% of respondents who said they were something other than heterosexual in the fall 2010 poll.
Both figures are still far higher than those in a Gallup poll of U.S. adults released in February, which found 7.2% identify as LGBT.
A student at the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, attributed the LGBTQ surge to greater campus openness toward alternative lifestyles, while conservative commentators had another explanation: social contagion.
“This is not an organic trend, it’s social contagion playing out in real-time,” tweeted Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Sarah Parshall Perry.
Conservative podcaster Todd Starnes offered some advice: “Homeschool your children, America.”
“So what’s happening? Are we in the midst of some sort of sexual evolutionary event – never before seen in world history?” asked Mr. Starnes. “I don’t believe we are. In truth I suspect what we are seeing is some sort of social contagion.”
The survey found the biggest increase was among bisexuals: Nearly 18% said they were bisexual, a jump of 232% from 2010-23. Those identifying as homosexual ticked up from 6.5% to 7.9% during the same period for an increase of 26%.
Only 60% said they were heterosexual, a decrease of 25.2% from 2010.
In addition, 3.1% identified as nonbinary and 1.8% said they were “genderqueer.” The poll didn’t ask detailed questions about gender identity until spring 2022.
LGBTQ+ student self-identification has doubled at #BrownUniversity since 2010, according to Herald polling data - The Brown Daily Herald https://t.co/VdtE5r5dyD
— howardfineman (@howardfineman) July 10, 2023
“So what, do we think more kids just started popping out of the womb gay sometime around 2003, or are we going to admit that what we’re doing with our culture has led to more kids trying gay stuff — that this is a social contagion?” asked Not the Bee, the Babylon Bee’s news arm.
The conservative Christian website noted that such views are politically incorrect: “Seriously, like you can get in trouble in lefty circles for even suggesting such a thing. It’s like a cult, and you’ve insulted the leader. It’s weird.”
Student Josephine Kovecses said it was “exciting that the numbers are growing and that queer people are able to be open in particular at Brown.”
“Queer people haven’t been able to be open in their identifications for that long,” she said.
Cue the conservative sarcasm. “Totally not a social contagion,” said Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
“100% natural. Totally born this way, just like having green or blue eyes,” tweeted conservative commentator Daniel Horowitz.
The Daily Herald added “queer,” “pansexual,” “asexual,” and “questioning/unsure” to its polling options in spring 2022.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.