Man who lived as woman for eight years warns surprising teen sexuality data may not tell full story

A man who spent eight years identifying as a woman is casting doubt on reports of a dramatic decline in teenagers identifying as gay or bisexual, warning that social media and peer pressure may be influencing how young Americans describe their sexual orientation.

Walt Heyer, who detransitioned roughly 40 years ago and now serves as a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive video interview that he remains skeptical of the apparent shift, suggesting some teenagers may be reluctant to openly identify as gay or bisexual because of social pressures.

“I don’t really believe that there’s a big dramatic free fall,” Heyer said, referring to recent reports about declining rates of gay and bisexual identification among some teenagers.

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“I think what’s happening is that because of social media, there’s a lot more influence on people who may not want to fall into that classification on a social media level and will withhold the fact that they are gay or bisexual, but really don’t want to openly admit it,” Heyer said.

The comments come after The Washington Post highlighted CDC data showing that the percentage of ninth-grade girls identifying as lesbian or bisexual fell from 30% in 2021 to 17% in 2025. The share identifying as bisexual alone dropped from 26% to 13% over the same period.

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The percentage of boys identifying as gay or bisexual has remained largely unchanged over the past decade, while the share of high school girls identifying as lesbian or bisexual surged following the COVID-19 pandemic before beginning to decline, the Post reported.

Heyer, an author and co-author of multiple books including “Trans Life Survivors” and “Paper Genders” who has spent years working with people questioning their gender identities, argued that social dynamics among young people could complicate attempts to interpret the findings.

“I’ve had actual people in school saying that they’re bullied into identifying one way, or they’re bullying and bullied to not identify that way,” he said.

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Heyer also said he believes peer and societal pressures are significant factors in kids choosing to identify with something else that is not their biological sex.

“What’s interesting about that is that many kids are sort of coerced by their peers to say things one way or the other, so I’ve been very skeptical about what the kids are saying, whether they’re gay or bisexual,” Heyer said. 

“I don’t really believe that there’s a big dramatic free fall. That was, I think, quoted as a free fall in the people identifying as gay or bisexual,” he added. “I think what’s happening is that, because of social media, there’s a lot more influence on people who may not want to fall into that classification on a social media level and will withhold the fact that they are gay or bisexual, but really don’t want to openly admit it.”

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Simply but perhaps most importantly, Heyer said he thinks adults should do a better job of only affirming what is true.

“I think that what I’ve really discovered is that we know now and have evidence, factual evidence, that nobody has ever changed their gender,” Heyer said. “I went through the hormones, had all the surgeries, identified that way. So far in all world history, nobody has actually biologically changed their gender. This is a cosmetic social appearance, it is not a biological change.” 

“And when you come to that conclusion, you realize that really the procedures and these terminologies and labels, what I refer to as God rejecting labels, God rejecting procedures in every aspect. This is the way young people and adults reject God and say God doesn’t exist by taking these labels on,” he added. 

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Heyer also urged researchers to conduct additional studies before concluding that the numbers reflect a lasting shift in sexual identity.

“I just think it’s important for us to be much more thorough and go to other areas before we come to some conclusion that there’s a giant, giant drop in these identities,” he said. “I don’t think we’re there yet.”