Fox News host Will Cain invited transphobic gay influencer Link Lauren to explain a recent Gallup poll showing that 23% of 18 to 29-year-olds consider themselves LGBTQ+ and 58.6% of LGBTQ+-identified Americans are bisexual. Their conversation was as stupid and bizarre as it was clueless and factually incorrect.

“What’s going on?” Cain asked Lauren. “How is it one in four 18 to 29-year-olds who consider themselves somewhere within that alphabet of acronyms?” Lauren then claimed that young people are creating identities “out of thin air” and then proceeded to list several identities that have long been discussed in online forums, queer media, and academic circles.

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“When I see all of this data and such an increase in LGBTQ identification, I don’t even know what half of this stuff is,” Lauren said. “I see some kids online: They’re pansexual, polysexual, nonbinary.” Various labels like pan- and polysexuality fall under the bisexual and queer umbrellas in the LGBTQ+ initialism; nonbinary identities are also included under its trans and queer initials. People have been bi, pan, and nonbinary for decades.

Lauren continued, “What are these things you guys are just making up out of thin air because you want to feel oppressed, you want to feel like you are in a minority. I feel like so many young people in this country, they’re lost, they’re confused, they’re devoid of purpose. And instead of filling that hole with faith, family, conservative values and occupation, a job, something with meaning, they’re glomming onto this trans cult, this gender cult, all of this ideology.”

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That is, Lauren believes that more young people are identifying as trans and nonbinary because they haven’t found fulfillment in religion, relatives, the Republican Party, or a real career. He offered no data or evidence to back up his claim.

Cain then said that Lauren believes that people take on LGBTQ+ identities to “get some victimization,” “oppression,” and “some power with that as well.”

While some people publicly espouse their queer identities as a form of political expression against the institutional oppressions they have faced, many queer-identified people believe their identities are either inborn or a natural part of human experience rather than just a way to get power. In fact, anti-LGBTQ+ stigma and oppression continue to disempower many members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially under conservative governments.

Cain then expressed confusion about how 18- to 29-year-olds can even identify as bisexual when recent polling has shown that young people are having less sex. For instance, a 2022 national poll showed that among Gen Z adults (currently between 18 and 33 years of age), 1-in-5 women and 1-in-3 men had never had partnered sex.

“Young people are not having sex, and yet they’re calling themselves bisexual,” Cain said. “I really have a hard time adding those things together.”

It’s really not that complicated: Someone can identify with any sexual orientation even if they’re not having sex. Many people realize that they are straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual long before they ever actually have sex.

Lauren didn’t answer the question and instead blamed social media, films, TV, medical professionals, and teachers for “indoctrinating” kids into identifying as trans and getting gender-affirming surgeries (even though such surgeries are rarely ever conducted on children). His claim not only echoed right-wing transphobic talking points that have not been substantiated by studies, but it also didn’t make any sense since the Gallup Poll they were discussing only polled adults, not minors.

Lauren then thanked the president for “protecting young girls, women, and children” — presumably through his numerous anti-trans actions — and said, “We have to fight for Western civilization right now, but I think we’re on the right track.”

His words echo anti-LGBTQ+ leaders who see queer identities as a threat to “traditional” Western culture. In reality, LGBTQ+ people and cultures have existed throughout the entire history of Western culture.

Cain concluded the segment by saying, “Stop scrolling. Stop looking at p**n. You’re not bisexual, by the way.” He then bizarrely claimed that the people identifying as bi in the Gallup Poll were mostly white women, even though the poll specifically found that Hispanic and Black people were more likely than white people to say they’re bi.

“It’s a lot of girls,” Cain said, even though the poll only covered adults, “a lot of white girls that are calling themselves bisexual and start making mistakes.” Cain didn’t elaborate on what specific kinds of “mistakes” he believes are being made by bisexual white “girls.”

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