Americans are divided over which public bathrooms transgender people should use
As the visibility of transgender Americans has increased in recent years, it has been accompanied by a contentious political debate over the rights of the estimated 0.6% of U.S. adults who identify as transgender – in particular, which public restrooms they should legally be allowed to enter.
Earlier this year, North Carolina became the focus for much of this debate when it enacted a law prohibiting people from using public bathrooms that do not match their biological sex. The law has prompted a backlash from some businesses, large organizations and others, including the National Basketball Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It is currently being challenged in court by the Obama administration.
About half of U.S. adults (51%) say transgender individuals should be allowed to use public restrooms that correspond with the gender they currently identify with, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. But nearly as many (46%) take the opposite position – on the side of the North Carolina law – and say transgender people should be required to use bathrooms that match the gender they were born into.
Religion, age, gender and politics are all connected with views on this issue. For instance, a majority of Americans who say they attend religious services at least weekly – especially white evangelicals – say transgender people should be required to use bathrooms of their gender at birth, while most of those who attend services less often (particularly people who do not identify with any religion) take the more liberal position that such individuals should be allowed to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity.
Also, more women than men take the liberal stance (55% vs. 45%) as do young adults when compared with older Americans (67% of those ages 18 to 29, compared with about half or fewer in older age groups). In addition, those who are Democrats or who lean Democratic are far more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners (68% vs. 30%) to say transgender people should be able to use the bathroom that fits their gender identity.
In addition, people who say they personally know someone who is transgender are more likely than those who do not to say transgender people should be allowed to use public bathrooms that match their current gender identity (60% vs. 47%). But only 30% of U.S. adults say they know someone who is transgender – far lower than the share of Americans who know someone who is gay (87%).
Finally, only about one-in-five Americans (18%) say they sympathize at least somewhat with both perspectives on the use of public restrooms by transgender people, giving the issue at least the appearance of fitting into the broader pattern of political polarization in America. Indeed, roughly six-in-ten say they sympathize only with one side or the other. An additional one-in-five (19%) sympathize with neither side.
Topics: Gender, Lifestyle, Religion and Society, Social Values
-
Michael Lipka is a senior editor focusing on religion at Pew Research Center.
Anonymous • 5 months ago
Let’s face it- people with religious or moral concerns should simply shut up and die. They no longer have any say in how this (or any) country should be run. Personal opinions? If they do not conform to the zeitgeist, they can be re-educated, at the point of a gun, if necessary.
Anonymous • 5 months ago
Was a question asked regarding parents opinion of shared bathrooms and showers when their sons and daughters are involved?
If so, how was it answered?
Anonymous • 5 months ago
“About half of U.S. adults (51%) say transgender individuals should be allowed to use public restrooms that correspond with the gender they currently identify with,”
But this is not the REAL question. Regardless of where you fall on this issue, the PRACTICAL point is are you ok with ANY person using ANY public multi-occupancy restroom and/or locker room?
If you say that a trans person (who is a biological male) can use the girls multi-occupancy locker room, then there is no way to limit that choice to just trans people. There is NO official trans card identifying a person as a legitimate (for lack of a better word) trans person.
Therefore, practically speaking, any one can use any multi-occupancy facility.
Anonymous • 5 months ago
Sure, it’s really hard to accept the existence of a condition when there are few to no outward signs of said condition visible to the eye. That is a large part of the very real problem faced by transgender people today. Cleft palates, missing limbs and organs are mush easier to accept as a condition of birth gone wrong than an invisible issue like the mismatch between a portion of the brain and an individual’s external genitalia.
Of course there is going to be skepticism, confusion, fear and denial. Those feelings are also felt by every transgender person as they learn to come to terms with who and what they are. Some come to understand much earlier than others do and learn to accept their unusual reality and others either come to that understanding late or never at all. My point is this. Transgender people are just as, if not more afraid of cisgender people than the cisgender folks are of them. So far this year, there have been 20 transgender women murdered by cisgender (non-transgender) people in this country.
How many actual transgender people in this country have murdered, or even attacked any cisgender people? None.
Packard Day • 5 months ago
Much like public education, “specific” ethnic diversity, and low income housing; location, location, and location may play a major roll in a person’s opinion on public restrooms._________Needless to say, it is probably prudent to continue to ignore what people in power may say on this topic, while focusing like a laser on what they actually do with their own lives.