While moral debates persist, a majority stand against legislative bans on gender-affirming treatments for minors.
A Country Divided
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The United States of America has long been known as a country divided.
Hot Button Topic
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The topic of transgender rights and gender-affirming care is no exception for a hot debate among American citizens.
A Look at Recent Data
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Recent data from Gallup’s latest polls show that 51% of Americans believe that changing one’s gender is not morally right.
Morally Acceptable?
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This is compared to 44% of Americans who believe that it is a morally acceptable decision to make.
Overwhelming Majority Against Bans
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But, regardless of the moral split, more than 6 in 10 American adults do not support creating legislative bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The Complexity
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The moral vs. legislative split goes to show how complex this debate has become.
Shut Down in Florida
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The U.S. District Court in Florida recently shut down the state’s attempted ban on medical treatments for transgender minors, and declared it unconstitutional.
Alabama Pushes Through
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Meanwhile, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Alabama voted to uphold their own laws banning transgender treatment for minors called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.
Fragmented Opinions
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American opinions on gender-affirming care for minors is very fragmented across the two sides of the aisle.
Liberal and Democratic Stance
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Recent data shows that 81% of political liberals and 72% of Democrats do not find any moral issue with the care.
A Look at Religion
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Additionally, 67% of the religiously unaffiliated and 59% of infrequent church goers do not morally object to gender-affirming care.
The Younger Generations
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The same trends can be seen from young adults (56%) and college graduates (53%).
The Conservative Stance
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The conservative, religious, and older generations land on the opposite end of this spectrum, believing gender-affirming care is immoral.
Female Voters Split
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Women voters are quite split on the issue, shockingly more fragmented than male voters.
The Stats
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Current data shows 48% of female voters believe that changing one’s gender is morally acceptable while 39% do not.
Lack of Support Remains
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Regardless of their moral standing on the issue of transgender healthcare for minors, the majority of Americans do not support legislative bans on the care.
Gender-Affirming Care
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Gender-affirming care, which includes both psychological counseling to various medical therapies, have taken center stage in swing states as the election looms near.
A Look at the Legislative Map
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As of now, 25 states have laws or policies that restrict transgender minor’s access to the life-saving care.
Advocacy Groups Fight Back
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It is also important to note that many of these states are now undergoing legal challenges on laws, as advocacy and human rights groups fight back.
Values and Beliefs Poll
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The survey conducted by Gallup, called the annual Values and Beliefs Poll, asked the public about the bans in two different ways.
Changing the Phrasing
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First, they asked what citizens thought about bans specifically on “treatments and medical procedures” while the other question was phrased to include “psychological support, hormonal treatments, and medical surgeries”.
Only One-Third
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Results did not vary too much between the two questions, showing that only ⅓ of U.S. adults support the legislative bans.
Across the Aisle
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Looking at the different political parties, Republicans (53%) were much more inclined than both the Democrats (25%) and the independents (34%) to support the bans.
Wording Matters
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The survey found that Republican support for the anti-trans legislation drops to 45% when the question is worded more vaguely, while the other two parties remained steady.
Data on Generational Identification
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Gallup’s survey data also showed that only 0.9% of U.S. adults identify as transgender, with the largest population falling within Gen Z.
Why the Divide?
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There are many reasons why American adults may be split on the issue of not morally supporting transgender youth, but also not supporting a legislative ban on their care.
Don’t Take My Guns (Or My Cigarettes)
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It could be due to American’s general lack of support for any type of ban (i.e. smoking, guns) or due to the wording of the proposed legislation.
Republican Divide
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There is still quite a gap between grassroots Republican opinion on the matter compared to Republican-majority legislatures, creating a possible rift in the Republican party.
The post Poll Shows Surprise Shift in America’s Views on Transgender Treatment Bans first appeared on Pulse of Pride.
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