By a slim margin, (51%) most Americans think changing one’s gender is morally wrong, results from Gallup published last week show. On the flip side, 44% say it is morally acceptable, which is consistent with data from 2021 and 2023. But in a truly American paradox, despite finding moral qualms with changing one's gender, over 60% of American adults oppose laws banning gender-affirming care for minors.
It’s worth noting: Gen Z and Millennials adults are far more likely than those in older generations to identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup results from earlier this year. The same survey data showed that each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that came before it to identify as LGBTQ+.
Still, within the larger LGBTQ+ umbrella, a small number of U.S. adults identify as transgender – Gallup data shows that on average, only 0.9% of U.S. adults across generations identify as transgender. And that number only increases to 2.8% for those who are Gen Z (which the survey defines as adults born between 1997 and 2005).
The report released this week suggests that the gap between acceptance of changing one’s gender with acceptance of laws banning gender affirming care could be because the questions regarding gender-affirming care specifically called out “minors” when other questions did not. The comparatively low support for gender-affirming care bans “may be attributable to Americans’ general distaste for bans, a pattern that can be seen in Gallup trends on banning cigarette smoking and handguns.” Simply put, in general Americans dislike being banned from any activity, even if they believe it is morally wrong or harmful to themselves or others.
The report also concludes that while laws targeting gender-affirming are backed by more Republicans than Democrats, “rank-and-file Republicans do not overwhelmingly support these initiatives.”
