While these might seem like new developments, the notion that LGBTQ identities are "contagious" is actually quite old. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, people would often treat the revelation that someone they knew was LGBTQ as though it were a potential contamination event. RELATED: Florida's "don't say gay" bill is just the beginning: Republicans want to claw back all gay rightsĬonservative New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat described this line of thinking held by many on the political right: "What we're seeing today isn't just a continuation of the gay rights revolution it's a form of social contagion which our educational and medical institutions are encouraging and accelerating." Another Republican state Senator who voted for the bill, Ileana Garcia, argued, "Gay is not a permanent thing. The sponsor of Florida's legislation, Republican state Senator Dennis Baxley, has made numerous remarks espousing his belief that there are too many LGBTQ kids nowadays and that his bill would counter that trend. The same premise - that LGBTQ identities are spreading "unnaturally" - was also the underlying rationale behind Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law and copycat bills introduced in other states, which restrict or prohibit discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. At one point, Maher quips, "If we follow this trajectory, we will all be gay in 2053." The segment is a hodgepodge of statistics, anecdotes, misinformation, and genital jokes, but the message it sent was clear: This apparent rise in LGBTQ prevalence cannot possibly be "natural." The HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher" recently ran a segment called "Along for the Pride," which raised alarm about the gradual rise in people identifying as LGBTQ over the last century - from 1% of the Silent Generation to 20% of Generation Z.