Gallup publishes a new poll that purportedly shows nearly “one in four” people of Gen Z identify as LGBTQ. Fad? Real? Or the result of ideological capture of the culture?

The new freedom to be one’s authentic self … loud and proud … also seems to be accompanied by higher rates of dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, even suicide and homicide. So, here we are with Gen Z, where searching for meaning in life is reduced to a divergent sexual identity in order to have friends and be fulfilled. Not exactly working out as promised.

Redefining oneself through sexual or gender labels becomes a quick fix — a way to feel part of something, stand out in a crowd or escape the overwhelming sense of hopelessness. (snip)

Ironically, what was once a form of rebellion has become mainstream. In some social circles, being straight or traditionally gendered is now the “boring” option — the new conformity. It’s less about who someone truly is and more about not wanting to be left out. When everyone around you is changing their label or announcing a new identity, staying the same can feel like you’re missing the party.

No doubt that some of this is the usual self-sorting among the young of every generation because it is part of human nature that the young go through a period of separating from the parents. A necessary function of testing the world and themselves outside of the home and culture they were raised in. To a larger or lesser extent, this includes reaction to contemporary events they find they cannot influence, let alone control, right at the time they are feeling a measure of power over their own lives. The Lost Generation of the 1920s trying to find meaning after WWI, The Greatest Generation enduring the Great Depression, WWII, and the realignment of the world stage in the new Atomic Age.