1 in 5 LDS College Students Identify as Non-Heterosexual

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released a report this September that 22% of Latter-day Saints college students identify as non-heterosexual. This information comes from a sample of a poll consisting of 39,000 individuals between the ages of 18 and 25. Of those 39,000, there were 709 students who claimed to be members of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

Most of the results from these 709 students came from those attending Brigham Young University, Utah State University, and the University of Utah. Ryan Burge, political scientist and writer of Graphs About Religion, analyzed this data and made an interesting note that the amount of heterosexual identifying LDS students was only 6% higher than the entire sample size as a whole, placing them in the middle of self-reported heterosexuals. The Salt Lake Tribune quotes Burge in a Zoom interview as saying, “The LDS rate was lower than Protestants and even than Catholics, which is weird because the Catholic ethic is definitely more liberal.”

Burge brings up one counterpoint to the 22% of LDS college students identifying as non-heterosexual in that some students may have put their religion down as LDS due to growing up in the church or their familial ties to it, but are not actively practicing Mormons or members of the church. Additionally, 39% of students in the survey identified as Democrats or Democrat-leaning, which could play a factor in identifying with non-heterosexual identities. 

The Church of Latter-day Saints are notoriously conservative in matters of sexuality. Though the church no longer actively teaches that same-sex attraction is curable, it is still considered a sin if acted upon. If acted upon, members risk suspension and excommunication from the Church and community. Following that, members are prohibited from getting married to a same-sex partner and the Mormon church will not host same-sex weddings.

However, in 2019 the Church of Latter-day Saints reversed their “November Policy” that targeted same-gender couples as apostates of the religion and stated that children of same-gender couples had to denounce their parents by age 18 in order to become a member of the LDS. So, while the outlook is not particularly bright for non-heterosexual members of the Latter-day Saints, there has been a shift in front-facing opinion of same-sex individuals and young LDS members identifying with non-heterosexuality.