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A new University of British Columbia (UBC) study says in the last 15 years, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth are half as likely to play sports compared to straight teens.

While participation in sports has been declining slowly for all high school students across British Columbia, the LGB community has seen a significant dip.

The study, which is the first of its kind found that in 1998, five out of 10 gay students played formal or coach sports. In 2013, that proportion had dropped to three in 10.

In the same time frame, the participation dropped from 62 per cent to 52 per cent for lesbian girls. For bisexual girls it dropped from 48 per cent to 38 per cent, and for bisexual boys, the participation dropped from 59 per cent to 42 per cent.

But it’s not only the LGB community that’s seeing the drop. The study also found that the number of straight boys and girls playing sports dropped as well. In 1998, 71 per cent of straight boys played sports, compared to 68 per cent. The drop for straight girls was from 66 per cent to 61 per cent.

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Participation in informal sports, such as pickup games, also decreased over time for youth of all sexual orientations, with the biggest drops seen for straight and bisexual males and females.

The study used data from the BC Adolescent Health Survey, conducted by McCreary Centre Society, and involved 99,373 adolescent students across B.C.

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