**Young People Identifying as Non-Binary Declines Significantly** The number of young individuals identifying as non-binary has sharply decreased, according to a recent analysis by Canadian academic Eric Kaufmann. He likened this trend to the fading of a fashion. Kaufmann's report indicates that identities such as trans, queer, and bisexual are experiencing a rapid decline among young, educated Americans. Kaufmann, a politics professor and director of the U.K.-based Centre for Heterodox Social Science, noted that the peak of students identifying as neither male nor female occurred around 2023. Recent data shows that this figure has nearly halved in just two years. The findings are based on U.S. data, particularly from surveys of American undergraduates that included questions about self-identified gender. The largest survey, conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), involved around 50,000 students. In 2023, 6.8 percent of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female. However, the latest 2025 survey revealed that this number dropped to 3.6 percent. The decline was even more pronounced at individual elite institutions. For example, data from Andover Phillips Academy, a prestigious prep school, showed that 9.2 percent of students identified as “neither male nor female” in 2023, but this figure fell to 3 percent by 2025. Kaufmann acknowledged that these figures do not account for students who identify as transgender, as they would likely select either “male” or “female.” Kaufmann stated that the reasons behind the decline in non-binary identification are not immediately clear. He noted that while there has been an increase in young Americans embracing religion and conservative politics, his analysis suggested these factors are not directly related to the decline in non-binary identification. The political views of university students have remained stable throughout the 2020s, with FIRE data indicating that the average student in 2025 was just as likely to be a liberal atheist as in 2023. Kaufmann also observed that the proportion of homosexual students has remained relatively constant, with fluctuations of no more than half a percentage point annually. He remarked, "For young people, gender and sexual identity are now independent fashions that rise and fall separately from other cultural and political currents." More fluid categories like “queer” and “questioning” have shown the most variability. According to FIRE data, 68 percent of surveyed students identified as “heterosexual” in 2023, while 15 percent identified as “queer.” By 2025, these categories shifted significantly, with 77 percent identifying as heterosexual and only 8 percent as queer. The notion that gender identity may be a temporary or trend-driven phenomenon has been contested by transgender advocates. Many Canadian medical organizations have rejected the idea of social contagion influencing gender dysphoria, labeling it a harmful myth. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics stated that there is no evidence supporting the concept of “rapid onset gender dysphoria,” which suggests that adolescents adopt trans identities due to social influences.