© AP / Seth WenigFILE PHOTO: A woman holds a rainbow flag during the NYC Pride Parade in New York City, June 26, 2016
, according to new data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual
report of 17,232 students found that in 2021, about
three-quarters of teens between the ages of 14 and 18 claimed to be attracted only to the opposite sex.Of the remaining respondents,
nearly 12% considered themselves bisexual, just over 3% were either gay or lesbian and 9% marked "other" — which could include those who identify as pansexual or asexual or have "questioned" their sexuality.The latest figures marked a record number of youngsters who do not identify as straight — approximately 1 in 4 students.
The number of LGBTQ people
continues to rise every year.
A Gallup poll released in February showed that 7.2% of adult Americans are "something other than heterosexual," the highest concentration of which belonged to Gen Z.
But the uptick in queer youth may not mean that fewer people are heterosexual — rather, it indicates that more people are comfortable with being openly honest about their sexual orientation and identities. This seems to be especially true among the younger generation, who are chronically online.
"Social media has added to this visibility that there are options that were not previously available," Ritch Savin-Williams, a developmental psychology professor at Cornell,
previously told The Post. "In a positive sense, it sort of says, 'Hey, look, you don't have to fit into these boxes.'"
Comment: Most of the problems blamed for these shortages seem to be primarily due to the energy crisis caused by the West's sanctions on Russia.
That shortages are forecast, yet again, is rather telling of how fragile the UK's food supply chain is. And, since there's no social or political will to solve the problems, and with the weather and seasons becoming increasingly erratic and extreme, and with other issues like inflation and the energy crisis compounding these shortages, the situation is undoubtedly only going to get many times worse: