Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Well, for years now, the number of young people embracing alternative sexual identities has grown consistently until now.

And a recent article had unheard Eric Kaufman of the University of Buckingham summarized findings from a poll that was taken earlier this year of over 68,000 college students from more than 250 institutions.

He wrote, quote, my analysis of the raw data shows that in that year, just 3.6% of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female. By comparison,

that figure was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in 2022 and 23. In other words, the share of trans

identified students has effectively halved in just two years, end quote. And in a thread on X about the data, Kaufman suggested that it indicates, and I quote again,

the fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or a trend, end quote.

Now, some have cautioned against premature optimism here.

However, prominent psychologist Dr. Jean Twangy in a social media

post from October the 20th affirmed Kaufman's take. For now, she then added in a lengthier

treatment on her substack, it looks like the peak of trans identification is in the past. And the same

day that Kaufman posted, actress Kira Knightley made her own headlines

for interesting behavior in an interview. Set to voice Professor Umbridge in the upcoming

Harry Potter audiobook series, a reporter questioned her about the backlash against author

J.K. Rowling for her unwavering opposition to transgender ideology.

With typical British understatement Knightley said, quote, I was not aware of that. No, I'm very sorry.

And then she laughed, as if the question was ridiculous.

Now it's difficult to imagine even just a few years ago a prominent actress dismissing transgender sanctimony in this way

and getting away with it. While it is certainly too early to pronounce the transgender craze

over, the vibe has clearly shifted. And there are lessons to be learned from the way it is shifting.

First, many young people who identified as trans or non-binary over the last

...