Wisconsin Right Now

A sharp decline in Gen Z Americans identifying as transgender and queer has occurred, from 6.8% identifying as a gender other than male or female in 2023 compared to 3.6% stating so in 2025, according to a report.

The report’s author, professor of Politics Eric Kaufmann, told The Center Square he thinks this drop in transgender young people “signals one of the first shifts away from progressive non-conformity of lifestyle and self-expression in 60 years.”

Kaufmann told The Center Square: “I believe we could be at the start of a gradual change toward a more post-progressive society, somewhat more socially conservative – or at least not as socially radical.”

Kaufmann also said to The Center Square that “there are many” implications to his report.

“First, that social influences are an important factor in the rise and decline of trans, queer and bisexual identity among young people since the 2010s,” Kaufmann said.

“Second, that gender and sexual identity seems to operate relatively independently of politics and culture war attitudes among young people,” Kaufmann said.

For instance, in an X post on the subject, Kaufmann wrote that the shift in queer and trans identification is not actually due to the youth becoming “less woke, more religious or more conservative,” because “those beliefs remained stable throughout the 2020s.”

Kaufmann told The Center Square that his third and final listed point on the implications of his report was “that improving mental health is connected to this trend [of declining Gen Z transgenderism], though only partially.”

Better mental health certainly appears to play a part in the decline in trans and queer identifying young Americans, as “less anxious and, especially, depressed, students [are] linked with a smaller share identifying as trans, queer or bisexual,” Kaufmann wrote on X.

Kaufmann additionally noted to The Center Square that “it does not appear that these shifts are related to social media consumption patterns.”

Interestingly, as Kaufmann wrote on X, “freshmen in 2024-25 were less trans and queer than seniors whereas it was the reverse when BTQ+ identity was surging in 2022-23,” suggesting that “gender/sexual non-conformity will continue to fall.”

Policy director at family advocacy group American Principles Project Paul Dupont told The Center Square that the findings of Kaufmann’s report “should be seen as good news.”

“Adopting an identity at odds with one's biology is not healthy, so any report showing more people embracing their bodies rather than rejecting them is a positive development,” Dupont said.

“While it's too early to say with certainty, one hopes that this decline will make it easier to root out gender ideology from its remaining strongholds,” Dupont said.

“Many blue states and cities still allow men to access women's private spaces and sports,” Dupont said. “Many hospitals and clinics still perform gender transition procedures on minors. Many school districts still keep parents in the dark if their child is struggling with gender dysphoria.”

“All of these policies must be repealed wherever they are still in force, and having more members of Gen Z acknowledge biological reality will only help hasten that process,” Dupont said.

Dupont advised that “advocates for sanity should be cautious not to declare victory yet.”

“Although we are making progress, gender ideology remains entrenched in many powerful American institutions, and Democrats have refused to moderate one inch in response to their election loss last year,” Dupont said. “There is still a difficult road ahead.”

Much of the information going into Kaufmann’s report came from raw data found in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) annual survey of college students – the College Free Speech Rankings Survey – with more than 60,000 polled in 2025.

As stated by Kaufmann in an article on his report, “just 3.6% of respondents [to FIRE’s survey] identified as a gender other than male or female,” in 2025.

“By comparison, the figure was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in both 2022 and 2023,” Kaufmann wrote. “In other words, the share of trans-identified students has effectively halved in just two years.”

FIRE told The Center Square that its survey “looks at student attitudes for free expression and is conducted for that purpose.”

FIRE explained that “as a side effect of asking demographic questions of so many respondents (68,000 this year), one can glean trends in demographics as Prof Kauffman has done here.”

“We make our data available to the public for free on this page to encourage academics or members of the public to dive in and see what findings they're able to uncover beyond the analyses that we ourselves are able to run,” FIRE told The Center Square.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill on Friday that will make using artificial intelligence to create pornography of a person a misdemeanor and using an AI-generated nude or sexual image of a person to intimidate, coerce or harass them a felony.

Wisconsin Act 34 was authored by Rep. Brent Jacobson, R-Mosinee, and Sen. Andre Jacque, New Franken.

The law, which goes into effect on Saturday, came after D.C. Everest Junior High student Bradyn Bohn died by suicide after he was the victim of sextortion.

“Recent events like the tragic death of DC Everest student Bradyn Bohn demonstrate how vulnerable we can be to online coercion and intimidation,” Jacobson said in a statement. “I am proud that my colleagues in the Legislature and Governor Evers could come together to proactively update our laws and keep Wisconsinites safe!”

The law is an expansion of prior crimes related to the depiction of nudity.

Jacque cited a study from Deeptrace which showed that 96% of “deep fake” material is non-consensual pornography, and “exclusively targets and harms women.”

Jacque cited another case in Milwaukee where an artificial image was created by a former police officer who then used the image to harass an ex-girlfriend.

“As the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) become more and more advanced, bad actors are increasingly using artificially generated sexually explicit images to harass and intimidate innocent people online,” Jacque said in a statement. “Act 34 will protect citizens against a new and disturbing form of cyber-abuse and ensure that all Wisconsinites can feel comfortable sharing regular images of themselves online without fearing that those images will be manipulated or corrupted into pornography.”

Consumers’ Research launched a seven-figure campaign against Chubb Insurance, stating in its Woke Alert that the company promotes DEI, gender ideology, and climate extremism.

Executive director of Consumers’ Research Will Hild told The Center Square: “Instead of providing a service that individuals need to protect themselves and their families, Chubb is weaponizing its outsized influence over the insurance industry to promote radical ideologies such as DEI, green climate initiatives, and transgender ideology, all above services people need."

Consumers’ Research is “the nation's oldest consumer protection organization,” according to Hild.

Chubb Insurance is “a world leader in insurance” with “operations in 54 countries and territories,” that provide “commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance,” according to the company’s website.

When contacted twice, Chubb Insurance media relations did not respond.

Hild told The Center Square that “Chubb Insurance has a responsibility to their customers first and foremost to provide exceptional services at competitive costs, but the company has chosen to prioritize a woke agenda and force their political beliefs onto consumers.”

“Chubb proudly claims DEI is the foundation of its culture and publicly touts its discriminatory policies,” Hild said.

Indeed, Consumers’ Research’s Woke Alert outlines the ways in which Chubb’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is evident, including the company’s General Counsel Joseph Wayland saying that “diversity, equity and inclusion are the foundation of our Chubb culture.”

In addition, Chubb launched a platform called “Race Matters” to “facilitate greater consciousness of racism and understanding of the Black experience,” as well as made a “Race Fluency Toolkit” to “ingrain anti-racism within Chubb’s culture,” as shown in the Woke Alert.

“As part of Chubb’s woke ‘racial justice’ activism, its Code of Conduct tells employees to ‘promote diversity, equity and inclusion’ and ‘help us maintain a culture that values’ DEI,” the Woke Alert said.

The Chubb Rule of Law Fund also “awarded $1.1 million to projects that promote equity and advance racial justice and police reforms.”

Hild told The Center Square that because of Chubb’s “blatant disregard for President Trump's policies [against illegal discrimination], Consumers’ Research sent a letter to the Departments of Justice and Treasury calling for a federal investigation into Chubb for any violations of President Trump's executive orders and anti-discrimination laws.”

In addition to a DEI agenda, Chubb supports the transgender industry, as it “funds gender ideology for children and has made contributions to The Trevor Project through the Chubb Charitable Foundation.”

The Woke Alert said that “the Trevor Project operated “a private chat room which allowed adults to prey on vulnerable children and for supplying materials intended to advance trans ideology among kids.”

Chubb also boasts of its Human Rights Campaign score, and the company’s CEO Evan Greenberg said that “stopping men from using women’s bathrooms is a ‘threat to democracy,’” as stated in the Woke Alert.

As far as climate extremism goes, the Woke Alert states that “Chubb has pushed a radical climate agenda, equating the impact of climate change with that of global terrorism.”

Chubb has also “refused to reliably insure American energy companies, stating on its website that it will no longer underwrite new coal-fired plants and phase out coverage for existing coal plants that generate more than 30% of their revenue from coal,” the Woke Alert said.

Hild told The Center Square that consumers can “make their voices heard” about Chubb’s work efforts “by reaching out to Chubb and demanding the company focus on their consumers and not a political agenda.”

“Consumers' Research will continue to put companies on blast that are prioritizing a woke agenda over its consumers,” Hild said.

“If any consumers have first-hand experiences dealing with woke policies being pushed at Chubb, they can reach out to us at ConsumersResearch.org and visit our Report Woke page to share any information with us,” Hild said.

In addition to its Woke Alert, Consumers’ Research launched a national television ad, a website, and mobile billboards as a part of its seven-figure campaign, according to information obtained by The Center Square.