LGBT Activist – Youth Will Never Turn Back?

Gallup recently released poll results showing that 7.2% of American adults identify as “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual.” When Gallup first started measuring LGBT statistics in 2012, this number was 3.5%, which means that the LGBT community as a proportion of the U.S. population has doubled over the last ten years.

However, the poll displays a more nuanced result when this 7.2% of the population is broken down proportionally by age group. Only 1.7% of the Silent Generation, 2.7% of baby boomers, and 3.3% of Generation X identify as LGBT, which leaves the remainder of the U.S. population’s 7.2% to be made up by millennials and Generation Z: a significant 11.2% of the former and a staggering 19.7% of the latter. So according to Gallup’s numbers, not only is 1 or 2 in every 20 U.S. adults lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or “other LGBT,” but 1 in every 5 gen-z-ers is. We’ve come a long way over the last 50 years. Flash back to 1972, when the American Psychiatric Association was classifying homosexuality as a mental illness; now, in 2022, 1 in every 5 of young adults place themselves outside of the traditional heterosexual paradigm.

For some, this poll reflects an admirable shift in American culture. As society becomes more accepting and affirming of the lifestyle—celebrating it as an important aspect of a person’s identity and normalizing it to the younger generation—more and more of the nation’s young people go off to explore their sexualities in these sinful ways while they are young and impressionable and those who should be seeking help for this sexual disorder now feel legitimized in this broken lifestyle. Cathy Renna, the National LGBTQ Task Force communications director, seemed to convey this sentiment in her remarks to USA TODAY:

Who we are is rooted deeply in us and is something young people – growing up in a culture that has finally been able to tell them that they are aren’t alone [sic], that they are beautiful and perfect exactly as they are – will never turn back from now.

Sadly, however, Renna’s remark is truer than she might think. When young people grow up in a culture that tells them they are perfect “exactly as they are,” they might very well never turn back from it.

In Generation Z’s results, we now see the cumulative effects of the steady push to legalize, then normalize, then praise these sinful lifestyles. There’s a reason almost no one in the Silent Generation answered the Gallup poll as LGBT—they were all born before 1945, in a world which was not perfect by any means, but which was definitely more true to biblical standards of sexuality than ours is today. As the generations rolled on, the push to affirm the LGBT lifestyles got louder and louder, but it wasn’t until the most recent generations that we could really say that young people have “grown up” in such a sin-affirming world.

Most of us have a hard time imagining what the world would be like without cars, because we all grew up in a world saturated with them. We no longer think about whether they are beneficial or detrimental, as I’m sure many people did at the turn of the 20th century; we just accept them as a matter of fact, because they are an integral part of our world and they are here to stay. Likewise, I think many of the younger generations are now going to have a hard time imagining what the world would be like if heterosexual marriage were the universal norm. Vigorous debate does still persist right now, but if trends continue like they have been, then it’s going to be harder and harder to get people to believe the biblical paradigm. Perversion will be an integral part of our world and here to stay—or, as Renna put it, young people “will never turn back now.” For her movement, it’s a trend of liberation. But this is not liberty—this is bondage.

The Bible frighteningly describes how societies slip into this kind of sexual perversion—as a form of bondage, rather than a form of liberation. For those who want to see our nation avoid cultural self-destruction, this trend should bring us to our knees. Here’s the basic outline: God has made Himself plain to everyone, so that we are all without excuse if we try to deny Him (Rom. 1:19–20). Nevertheless, unbelievers refuse to acknowledge God; although they know God, they neither glorify Him as God nor are thankful to Him (Rom. 1:21).

So what is God’s response? Does God try to reveal Himself harder? Give people more signs? Make people think more clearly? No, the opposite is true. While God definitely extends His grace to many, and no one is beyond His saving power, Paul explains the natural trend of the unbelievers that refuse to glorify God: their thinking will become futile and their hearts will be darkened (Rom. 1:21). This is not liberation; this is debilitation. Even though they might claim to be wise—maybe even “woke” to all the injustices that no one else can see—unbelievers become fools. They exchange God’s glory for mere images (Rom. 1:22–23).

But the consequences don’t stop there. Not only does sin affect the mind, as unbelievers will claim to be wise while actually becoming fools, but rejection of God also affects sexuality. The very next step is that God gives them over—the same word used when Jesus predicted his betrayal—to sexual impurity, degrading their bodies (Rom. 1:24). They will exchange God’s truth for lies, and slip further into bondage. The unbelievers no longer serve God, but serve creation (Rom. 1:25).

This only spirals downwards, because God then gives them over—there’s that phrase again—to vile lusts (Rom. 1:26). And what are these vile lusts? Then come the chilling words:

For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error (Rom. 1:26–27, ESV).

It may sound cold to some, but here’s the harsh truth: homosexuality is not an immutable identity—it was never the way humans were ever supposed to be. Rather, when it is prevalent in a society, it is an enslaving consequence of rejecting God.

A society that openly accepts sin is far, far down the broad and wide road, and accordingly, Paul ends this passage by listing a series of evils, and then criticizing those who “not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:32, ESV, italics mine). Which is what Renna, along with an increasingly vocal portion of our society, is now doing.

The increasing population proportion of the LGBT community and the promulgation of its acceptance are feeding each other in a vicious cycle. Renna hit the nail exactly on the head when she observed that a culture of acceptance will mean youth will never turn back. But that is precisely what is so frightening. Youth will never turn back if youth is enslaved by sexual perversion, having been “given over” to it as a consequence of sin. Our society is already far down the Romans 1 path that begins with rejecting God and ends in enslaving debauchery.

Only by a miracle of God can it be redeemed.

But our God is a God who answers prayer, and He is also a God of miracles.

New Study Reveals the Startling Rise of Gen Zers Identifying as LGBTQ

Earlier this year, a Gallup poll announced that one in six Gen Zers identify as LGBT. That was a significantly higher number than ever reported in any previous years. Then, last month, a new survey released by Arizona Christian University reported that about 39 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds claim the label.

Even granting that polling data should always be carefully studied, and often taken with a grain of salt, that’s a shockingly high number. And, in addition to challenging Christians about how much the culture around them has changed, these numbers also challenge the way people have been taught to think about sexuality and, specifically, cultural assumptions about sexuality.

“Born This Way”

For years, the main idea driving activism around sexual orientation was that gay and lesbian people were “born this way.” Since, went the argument, no one is attracted to someone of the same gender through any fault of their own, we must let them be who they truly are and love who they want to love. And we must, the argument continued, erase any notion that heterosexuality is “normal,” and homosexuality is not.

That idea proved quite persuasive, especially the more it was portrayed in song, film, and television. Millions of dollars went to research looking for the genetic causes of same-sex attraction. Though such causes were never found, professional activists were successful in conflating sexual decisions with already protected classes of race, sex, and disability. Even as it has become more and more obvious that sexual orientation is not fixed, the idea that it is an innate, unchangeable component of identity has already served its purpose, shifting the moral norms of society and establishing this new way of thinking about sexuality. So, today, most Americans either believe that sexual orientation is something not chosen or that it is something that should never be questioned.

The Ever-Growing Acronym

However, polls like this one should make us question what many in our culture now take for granted about sexual orientation. Otherwise, how can the explosion in self-identified LGBTQ youth be explained?

The obvious answer is: it can’t. We either have to keep foolishly pretending that nearly 40 percent of young people have always been gay, lesbian, bisexual, or (especially now) transgender, or we must admit that our ideas about sexuality have consequences for others. After all, it didn’t take long for the other letters in the ever-growing acronym to ride the success of this strategy. So today, anyone who defies traditional “sexual norms” is given elevated moral status, considered “courageous” and experts on all kinds of things, and basically given a free pass not afforded to anyone else. Given the new social climate, is it any wonder young people want to join those ranks, at least on a subconscious level?

As one of my colleagues pointed out recently, a teen who identifies as “bisexual” doesn’t actually have to do anything to gain a status boost. They can keep dating people of the opposite sex or not date at all. They can be sexually active or not. It’s the label that does the magic. It’s no accident that the B and the T in the acronym have seen the most growth.

Choices and Consequences

Even if the social costs of identifying as a sexual minority are lower than ever (and the benefits higher than ever), the consequences for young people are severe. For one thing, young people are constantly taught to see every relationship they have as potentially sexual. Among other things, this robs them of platonic friendships, especially with members of the same sex. C.S. Lewis famously wrote that “few value (friendship) because few experience it.” This has become even more true today for the loneliest generation on record.

To be clear, people’s sexual desires almost never feel “chosen.” Though the research has not fully eliminated any biological or genetic factors in same-sex attraction, there’s no justification for treating it as immutable (much less for treating gender dysphoria that way). However, given all of the cultural pressure to assume such things, it’s clear that merely believing the right things about sexuality is insufficient for eliminating someone’s same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria. To put it differently, this generation has been thoroughly catechized into anthropological confusion, literally changing the definitions of normal and abnormal, of moral and immoral, of who we are and what we do.

The sexual choices people make create, reinforce, and amplify their sexual feelings. It’s a vicious cycle that mirrors the Apostle Paul’s words, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Though the Gospel doesn’t promise instantly repaired sexual desires, it does tell us to “be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.” In a culture obsessed with sex, drowning in loneliness, and careening towards self-harm, it’s good news that renewing our minds is even possible. We must point a generation of confused youth toward the compassion and clarity of this much better story as if their lives depend on it, because they do.

America Is Split Right Down the Middle on Abortion, Poll Shows

Written by Grace Carr

Americans are split evenly down the middle on whether abortion should remain legal, a Gallup poll published Monday reveals.

Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll shows that 48 percent of Americans identify as pro-choice while 48 percent identify as pro-life. While roughly half of Americans are pro-choice, more Americans believe that aborting unborn babies is morally wrong than morally acceptable, the poll shows.

Forty-eight to 43 percent of Americans find abortion morally wrong, according to Gallup’s poll. Since Gallup began conducting polls on abortion in the 1990s, the percentage of Americans who find abortion to be morally acceptable has never been greater than those who find it morally repugnant.

Of Americans who think that abortion should be legal in some circumstances, a majority believe that abortions should be legal in a “few” circumstances rather than in “most” cases. Examples of limited circumstances can include cases of fetal abnormality, rape or where the mother’s life is in danger.

The split in pro-life and pro-choice beliefs reveals a rise in pro-life attitudes that has been escalating since the 1990s. Multiple states have banned abortions after 15 weeks into pregnancy, and Iowa banned abortions after six weeks into pregnancy on May 4.

These pro-active measures to protect life reflect Americans’ changing opinions about abortion: Forty-seven percent of Americans identified as pro-choice while 46 percent identified as pro-life in 2000. Only 40 percent of Americans identified as “pro-life” while 51 percent identified as “pro-choice” in 1990.

Gallup conducted their poll by conducting telephone interviews between May 1 and May 10. Gallup spoke with 1,024 persons age 18 and older in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

This article originally posted at Stream.org.