The Guardian

And nowhere is that more true than within the millennial generation. Last week asurvey of 33,728 Americans published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviourstated that there had been a huge increase in the number of people reporting same-sex experiences, and alongside this, a greater acceptance of people’s sexuality. The study concluded that 49% of all adults and 63% of millennials “expressed tolerance of these relationships”.

“It’s clear that people under a certain age are much more comfortable not just with same-sex relationships but with bisexuality, gender-fluidity and all sorts of other ways of living that fall outside the traditional binaries of straight and gay, male and female,” says journalist Laurie Penny, who describes herself as bisexual and genderqueer.

“That’s partially down to the internet and the way it’s allowed more visibility for people who have life experiences outside the norm. It provides a way for people to congregate and talk about issues that matter to them.”

Penny adds that the growing number of celebrities either in same-sex relationships or willing to discuss their gender in non-binary terms is helping to change attitudes. “I didn’t talk about being bisexual or genderqueer much in public before last year, because I was facing so much online harassment as it was that I just didn’t have the energy to have that conversation as well.