Slim majority of Americans say changing gender morally wrong: Gallup

Fifty-one percent of Americans say it is “morally wrong” for someone to change their gender, according to polling released Friday by Gallup that also found a majority of Americans oppose bans on gender-affirming care for minors.

The findings, from a Gallup poll conducted in May, suggest contrasting views within the American public.

“A slim majority of Americans believe that changing one’s gender is morally wrong. Yet, a majority also oppose laws banning gender-affirming care to help minors align with their gender identity,” said Megan Brenan, a research consultant for Gallup, in an article about the poll. “This discrepancy could be because the questions about gender-affirming care specifically mention minors, while the question about the morality of changing one’s gender does not.”

“In addition, the relatively low support for banning laws on gender-affirming care may be attributable to Americans’ general distaste for bans, a pattern that can be seen in Gallup trends on banning cigarette smoking and handguns,” Brenan continued. 

The poll found that 44 percent of Americans say that a person changing their gender is “morally acceptable.”

Sixty-one percent of those polled oppose laws that would ban “psychological support, hormonal treatments and medical surgeries that help transgender individuals align with their gender identity.”

Sixty-two percent would oppose bans on treatments and medical procedures for minors involving gender-affirming care.

The poll comes at a time in which more than 90 percent of transgender teens live in states that have proposed or passed anti-transgender laws, according to an April report from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Right-wing attacks on transgender health care have also increased, as states like Wyoming have banned gender-affirming care for minors recently.

“For the second straight year, hundreds of bills impacting transgender youth were introduced in state legislatures,” said Elana Redfield, federal policy director at the Williams Institute and the lead author of the report, in a press release. “The diverging legal landscape has created a deep divide in the rights and protections for transgender youth and their families across the country.”

The Gallup poll was conducted from May 1-23, featuring 1,024 adults and a margin of error of 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The half sample features 512 people and has a margin of error of 6 percentage points.