Gallup Poll: Most Say Gender Change ‘Morally Wrong’

(Dreamstime)

Slightly more than half of Americans say it’s “morally wrong” for a person to change gender, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.

The poll found that a 51% majority of Americans say it’s “morally wrong” to change gender, while 62% simultaneously oppose bans on gender care for minors.

“A slim majority of Americans believe that changing one’s gender is morally wrong,” Megan Brenan, a Gallup research consultant, said in a survey analysis. “Yet, a majority also oppose laws banning gender-affirming care to help minors align with their gender identity. 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.”

According to the poll, 44% of Americans say it is “morally acceptable” for a person to change genders; 61% oppose laws that would ban “psychological support, hormonal treatments and medical surgeries that help transgender individuals align with their gender identity.”

Republicans were more supportive of bans on gender care for minors than Democrats or independents, the survey found.

The poll followed an April report from the Williams Institute at UCLA that found that more than 90% of transgender teens live in states that have proposed or passed laws that clamp down on transgender protections.

An increasing number of states have also enacted bans on gender care for minors, including Missouri, Oklahoma, and Idaho, amid legal challenges to the legislation.

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

The poll was conducted May 1-23 and surveyed 1,024 U.S. adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.