Less than half of Americans believe Transgenderism occurs naturally

Jardine Malado Wednesday, January 04, 2017

A participant holds a rainbow coloured placard during Delhi Queer Pride Parade, an event promoting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights, in New Delhi November 30, 2014. | Reuters/Adnan Abidi/Files

A new survey from the Williams Institute and Ipsos indicated that less than half of Americans believe that being transgender is a natural occurrence.

The poll revealed that 20 percent agreed that being transgender is natural, Pink News reported. Twenty-four percent said that they somewhat agreed. About 21 percent said they strongly disagreed while 16.6 percent somewhat disagreed. The rest, which makes up 17.9 percent of the respondents, say that they do not know.

As many as 44.6 percent of American respondents said that people should be allowed to switch their legal sex after complying with medical or government criteria. Only 22.7 percent said that people should be allowed to change their recorded sex at will.

At least 23 percent said they are opposed to any sex-related change to identity documents while 17.1 percent did not offer a reply.

According to Buzzfeed News, the survey was conducted online from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, 2016 in 22 countries. The surveyors also conducted in-person interviews with 610 adult respondents in India from Aug. 5 to 29, 2016.

The results show that 70 percent of respondents from all countries agree that transgenders should be allowed to have surgery and should be protected by the government from discrimination.

In 15 countries, a majority agreed that transgenders should be able to use restrooms according to their gender identity. The respondents from India (71.6 percent), Spain (76.7 percent) and Argentina (72.4 percent) were the most supportive. In the U.S., only 47 percent agreed.

In Russia, 53 percent disagreed that transgenders should be able to use bathrooms associated with their gender identity.

A separate report from BuzzFeed News stated that the people who personally know someone who is transgender are more likely to support transgender rights in most countries. Fifty percent of the respondents in Brazil said that they know a transgender person. In Spain, only 25 percent reported familiarity with a transgender.

Spain received the highest score with 81 points in public support for transgender rights based on the answers of the respondents. Sweden came in second with 77 points, followed by Argentina and Canada, with each receiving 76 points. The U.S. came in at 10th place with 66 points while Russia came in last with 44 points.