It's a combination of peer pressure, virtue-signaling and fear of cancel culture.

Which is to say that, these days, homosexuality is very fashionable with so-called "generation Zit"--appealing to adolescent girls, especially. It's simple for them to declare themselves homo to score persecuted minority points then have heterosex privately: the only costume necessary might be a crew cut, maybe a strategically placed tattoo or two, a purple dye job, and voila! Men need to make a bit more of a personal investment, having to act like a fag to publicly pass as homo. It does gen zit no good to merely BE homo--in fact their actual sex preference is beside the point when appearance is everything--they need to wear a stereotypical fag costume for public display.

It's the exact opposite of persecution. They are a lionized minority now, completely "liberated" except for their remaining agenda item--normalized sex with children--and appearance is just about enough to gain entry.