An Increasing Proportion of Americans Identify as Bisexual

Since 1989, the proportion of American adults identifying as bisexual has tripled. The evidence suggests that bisexual people feel psychologically safer admitting who they are and living as bi.

The Latest Numbers

In 2024, University of Portland, Oregon, researchers tracked bisexual preference in three iterations of the General Social Survey (GSS), a huge, ongoing, authoritative study of Americans’ lives. In the 1989-1994 GSS, 3.1 percent of respondents claimed bisexuality. In the 2012-2018 GSS, it was 9.3 percent. In 2021, it was 9.6 percent, triple the 1989 proportion.

Most bisexuals are women (3.7 percent vs. 1.6 percent of men).

Bisexuality also skews young. Compared with those over 40, younger Americans are three times more likely to claim it. Why the age difference? That’s not entirely clear, but sexual experimentation clusters among the young, and as the culture becomes more sex- and gender-fluid, bisexuals may feel more comfortable coming out.

Controversy

In the 1950s, sex research pioneer Alfred Kinsey declared a “sexual continuum” from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively lesbian/gay, with bisexuality in between. Kinsey himself was bisexual. Married to a woman, he had male sex partners.

But other researchers insisted bisexuality didn’t exist. Their arguments:

• Bisexuals were heterosexuals temporarily experimenting before embracing their “real” sexuality as straight or gay.
• Or they were homosexuals who don’t want to admit it, and faked attraction to the other gender.

The naysayers insisted that people are straight, lesbian/gay, or lying. Such denunciations may well have kept many bisexuals in their closets.

Bisexuality Goes Public in the 1970s and 1980s

Lesbians/gays began celebrating their sexuality in the 1970s. That decade also marked the founding of the first bisexuality organizations. The media discovered bisexuality in 1974 when a Newsweek article proclaimed “Bisexual Chic: Anyone Goes.” However, the Journal of Bisexuality did not launch until 2001, and books about homosexuality vastly outnumber those devoted to bisexuality.

In the 1980s, AIDS transformed our understanding of bisexuality. A surprising number of ostensibly heterosexual married men developed the disease. Their sexual identification was distinct from their sexual behavior. They considered themselves heterosexual, yet had gay experiences—often many, often for decades.

In 2005, a study showed that bisexuality did not exist. Northwestern University researchers showed erotic videos to 101 young men—30 heterosexual, 38 gay, and 33 bisexual—with their genitals wired to detect arousal. The heterosexual videos consistently aroused the straight men, and the homosexual videos the gay men. But none of the self-declared bisexuals were aroused by both. The researchers concluded: straight, gay, or lying.

Bisexual groups savaged the study, saying the “bisexual” participants had been recruited from gay publications, which fouled the results. The researchers repeated their study, but recruited bisexuals through bi websites. This time, the bisexuals became aroused by both straight and gay videos.

Prejudice Against Bisexuals

In the U.S., homophobia is slowly becoming culturally unacceptable, but “biphobia” appears alive and well. A University of Pittsburgh study showed that many people—both straight and gay—recoil from bisexuality. Lesbians/gays showed less anti-bi prejudice than heterosexuals, but many disapproved of the idea that anyone goes.

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Other studies have shown that many believe that bisexuals are unfaithful, unable to commit to relationships, and more likely to spread sexually transmitted infections. (All false.)

Myths About Bisexuals

One myth: Most bisexuals are simultaneously involved with both genders. Actually, they’re more likely to alternate. In one report, bisexuals were asked if during the past year they had been sexual with both men and women. Sixty-six percent of the men said yes, as did 70 percent of the women. But only 33 percent claimed simultaneous involvement with both genders.

Another: Bisexuals are unusually promiscuous. Bisexual men have more lovers than typical heterosexuals, but fewer than many gay men. (There are no similar studies of women.)

It’s Not Easy

Bisexuals have to “come out twice,” once when they acknowledge their same-gender attractions, and then again when they acknowledge their continuing other-gender attractions. This process is more psychologically complex than simply coming out as lesbian/gay, and typically takes longer. Most lesbians/gays realize it in their teens or early 20s, while most bisexuals come out in their late 20s.

Once out, bisexuality may feel socially isolating. Lesbians/gays enjoy a robust culture—organizations, publications, meeting places, and even neighborhoods in many cities. Bisexuality is comparatively invisible. Fortunately, the internet has fostered a sense of bi community.

If you think you don’t know any bisexuals, think again. In addition to Alfred Kinsey, bisexuals include: singers Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, and Billie Holiday; actors Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, James Dean, and Laurence Olivier; writers Oscar Wilde and Gore Vidal; dancers Isadora Duncan and Alvin Ailey; musician/conductor Leonard Bernstein; and artist Frida Kahlo.

Why Has Bi Identification Tripled?

The evidence suggests that, compared with previous generations, today's bisexuals feel more comfortable coming out.

This is an outgrowth of the Gay Pride movement, which began in 1969 at the historically gay Stonewall Inn in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. When police raided the bar, instead of meekly submitting to arrests and beatings, the outraged patrons battled the police. After Stonewall, gay people began celebrating their sexual preference—and promoting gay pride.

People born in the year of Stonewall turned 20 in 1989, when bisexual numbers began climbing. That generation was the first to come of age in a world where “gay” could be a source of pride. Today, younger people live in an even more gender- and sexuality-fluid world, where those who feel that they are bisexual are more comfortable living as bisexuals.

Bisexuality has also become more visible. Bisexuals don’t have bars or neighborhoods, but the fact that “LGBT” contains that “B” raises awareness and quietly encourages bisexual people to declare who they are.