How do Americans view policies on gender? Poll shows big difference between age groups

As transgender and non-binary people become more visible in public life, more state leaders are considering or enacting policies that either protect or restrict their rights.

But how Americans view such policies largely depends on their age, according to poll results released Thursday, Sept. 15, from the Pew Research Center.

Most Americans (64%) said they favor policies that would protect transgender people from discrimination they might face in housing, jobs, and public places, the poll says. Ten percent oppose them, and 25% don’t feel strongly one way or the other.

But Americans’ views are more split when it comes to other policies.

In some instances, the policies some opposed deal with public bathroom use, gender identity in school curriculum, and medical coverage for gender-affirming health care.

At least 21 states have passed some kind of restriction on transgender people, such as: blocking certain transgender student athletes from playing on sports teams that match their gender; making it illegal for health care professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with gender-affirming medical care, such as puberty-blocking medication or hormone replacement therapy; excluding coverage of gender-affirming medical care from state Medicaid; or making it illegal for public schools to teach about gender identity in class.

”At least seven states — Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas — have passed two or more of these restrictions,” the poll says.

And it isn’t limited to the southeast. Western states such as Montana have been in the news recently for debating whether transgender people must undergo surgical transitions in order to change the gender on their birth certificate.

Legislators in states on the West Coast, such as California, have considered legislation to create a refuge for families to seek and receive gender-affirming health care that could get them investigated for child abuse in other states, such as Texas.

Transgender athletes

Most Americans, regardless of age, think transgender student athletes should not be able to compete on the team that aligns with their gender, the poll found.

Fifty-eight percent “say they would favor or strongly favor policies that require transgender athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth,” rather than their gender identity, the poll says.

Seventeen percent oppose or strongly oppose them, the poll found.

“At least 18 states restrict transgender student athletes’ ability to play on sports teams that match their gender identity,” the poll found.

In March 2020, Idaho was the first to pass a transgender athlete ban, with Louisiana being the most recent state to do the same in June 2022

Public bathrooms

Americans’ views are mixed when it comes to public bathroom use. Around four-in-ten favor policies that would require trans people to use public bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth instead of their gender identity.

Few states have taken up the issue since North Carolina’s 2016 law was repealed in 2017, the poll found. That law banned transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

But the issue has popped up in public school districts in at least three states, the poll found. Alabama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee “restrict public school students’ ability to use the bathroom matching their gender identity,” the poll states.

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Gender identity in school curriculum

Americans are divided when it comes to whether transgender or non-binary identities can be taught in elementary school, the poll found.

About 41% say they would favor or strongly favor laws “that would make it illegal for public school districts to teach about gender identity in elementary schools,” such as Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law — more widely known as “Don’t Say Gay” — which took effect in July.

Thirty-eight percent oppose laws like that, the poll found.

Alabama signed a similar law in April, and “lawmakers in at least 20 states have introduced similar bills this year,” the poll states.

In the same survey, Pew asked parents of K-12 students “whether their children have learned about people who are transgender or who don’t identify as a boy or a girl from a teacher or another adult at their school.”

About 37% of parents with children in middle or high school said their children learned about transgender and/or non-binary folks in school, the poll found. “A much smaller share of parents of elementary school students (16%) say they same,” the poll states.

Overall, almost 30% of parents with kids in school say “at least one of their K-12 children” learned about transgender or gender noncomforming identities in school, the poll says.

Medical coverage and access to gender-affirming health care

Most Americans don’t believe health insurance companies should have to cover gender-affirming health care, the poll found.

About 44% oppose it, and 27% would favor requiring it, the poll says.

Policy on the topic varies widely by state. According to the poll, “at least 24 states as well as the District of Columbia” either require private health insurance companies to cover gender-affirming medical care, or they prohibit companies from excluding it. Those states also “prohibit companies from withholding insurance plans or charging different premiums because of someone’s gender identity,” the poll states.

The poll goes on to say that “at least 25 states and D.C. include medical care” for gender-affirming health care in their Medicaid programs, while “at least eight states explicitly exclude” it. In West Virginia, a federal judge overturned the state’s exclusion and ruled the state’s Medicaid program must cover gender-affirming medical care, The Hill reported last month.

When it comes to health care professionals providing gender-affirming care to anyone younger than 18, a plurality of Americans — 46% — think it should be illegal, and favor policies that would ban it, the poll found.

According to Pew, “a federal judge blocked part of the Alabama law passed in April that would have made it a felony for doctors to provide” puberty blockers and/or hormone replacement therapy for transgender minors. Arkansas passed a similar ban in 2021, “but a judge blocked that law from going into effect,” the poll states.

Lawmakers in Arizona passed a law “that bans physicians from performing irreversible gender reassignment surgeries on minors.” That law takes effect in 2023, the poll states.

Several states, including Idaho and New Hampshire, have tried to ban minors from accessing gender-affirming health care, classifying any efforts to help as child abuse. But those “attempts have failed,” according to Pew.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott’s attempt has been “blocked twice in court,” the poll said.

Americans are divided almost down the middle on whether they want parents to be investigated for child abuse if they help someone younger than 18 get gender-affirming health care, including puberty blockers and/or hormone replacement therapy, the poll found.

About 37% say they would somewhat favor laws that would do so. About 36% oppose them. And 27% neither favor nor oppose it, the poll found.

The Pew Research Center survey was conducted May 16-22 among 10,188 U.S. adults.

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