This is a archive of a deleted article.

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Sources
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https://www.statista.com/statistics/719674/american-adults-who-identify-as-homosexual-bisexual-or-transgender/
https://www.statista.co/statistics/719685/american-adults-who-identify-as-homosexual-bisexual-transgender-by-generation/
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2017/01/16/shifts-in-the-us-lgbt-population/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243215584758
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/19/usa-lgbt-population-census-pulse-survey-trans
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323495604578539220032220406
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https://www.chop.edu/news/health-tip/when-do-children-develop-their-gender-identity

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Article
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Over the past decade there has been a large increase in the number of people identifying as LGBT+. Some bigots say this is
proof that media representation and LGBT+ education in schools is "turning people gay." This has lead to a lot of damage
for example in Russia "gay propaganda" has been banned. There are many flaws in this reasoning and many actual factors that
contribute to more people identifying as LGBT+.

First, the big point that makes the argument crumble down is LGBT+ were that way since birth. Sexuality is caused by genes, this
has been backed up by a genome wide association study and twin studies. Being transgender has linked to genes in twin studies and
to differences in brain structure (there are psychological aspects too, it's strictly biological). All of this shows being LGBT+
is a matter of genetics not a matter of how much LGBT+ content you are exposed to.

Also there is really no way to change sexual orientation and gender identity. Conversion therapy does not work so why should
media exposure? Also LGBT+ people who see cis-het representation in the media don't become cis-het. On top of all of this being
LGBT+ can manifest at a young age before kids are exposed to LGBT+ content in the media or even know what being LGBT+ means. We
should also point out that rapid onset gender dysphoria has been debunked.

Now lets look at the real reasons more people are identifying as LGBT+. First the biggest reason is more media representation.
LGBT+ media representation does not turn people LGBT+ it helps people find out they are LGBT+. Many people have found out they where
LGBT+ by seeing it in the media. This also shows why there were much less LGBT+ in history. For example for much of history there
has not been a word for transgender and no-one knew what gender identity was so people with gender dysphoria had a hard time
knowing what they were feeling. 

Another big reason more people are LGBT+ today is that in the past being LGBT+ was seen as more negative. This leads to 2 problems.
First, people will be scared to come out. In many countries being LGBT+ was illegal. Also the majority of people disapproved of
LGBT+ people. This would have lead to people being scared to show who they were. Second, people might be in denial of their identities.
If you were a person in the 50s and had a negative view on homosexuality like most people and you felt homosexual you might just
deny your feelings.

The last big reason is that the sexuality of people is much are fluid than first thought. A study found that many people who identified
as heterosexual were not exclusively heterosexual and experienced some same sex attraction. Some people today might interpret this
is bisexuality or omnisexuality leading to more people identifying LGBT+.

One last note is that getting LGBT+ population statistics is very challenging. As we have covered there are many cases where
someone could be LGBT+ and not know it. This makes it very hard see how many LGBT+ people exist.