A new poll finds 75 percent of likely American voters believe the transgender movement has gone too far by encouraging underage minors to use drugs and surgery to transition to the opposite sex.
The survey, co-sponsored by Colorado-based Summit Ministries – which embraces a Christian worldview – and national polling firm McLaughlin & Associates, also finds 69 percent of voters who have an opinion on the issue believe the rise in transgenderism among teens is the result of influence to question their gender by social media and other cultural forces.
The poll of 1,000 likely general election voters across the country was conducted October 12-17, and has an accuracy of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.
“What is your opinion on why transgenderism is rising amongst underage minors?” respondents were asked. “Underage minors feel free to question their gender without judgement, OR, Underage minors are being influenced to question their gender due to social media and other cultural influences.”
Among the 860 participants who answered this question, 69 percent said underage minors are being influenced to question their gender, while 31 percent said they feel free to question their gender without judgment.
“Do you believe the transgender movement has gone too far by encouraging underage minors to use drugs and surgery to transition to the opposite sex?” participants were asked.
Among the 858 respondents who answered this question, 75 percent answered “yes,” while 24 percent said, “no.”
Survey participants were also asked, “Are you reluctant to share your views on transgenderism with friends, family or coworkers – and if so, why?” and provided the choices: “I am not reluctant to share my views;” “I am reluctant to share my views because I might be canceled;” “I am reluctant to share my views because I don’t want to offend others;” “I am reluctant to share my views because I don’t know enough to discuss it well.”
Of the 938 respondents to this question, 59 percent said they are “Not Reluctant” to share their views, while 41 percent answered they are “Reluctant,” 8 percent said they “Don’t Want to Be Canceled,” 16 percent said they “Don’t Want to Offend,” and 17 percent said they “Don’t Know Enough.”
Asked “What is your opinion on the motivation behind the medical industry promoting gender transition for young children?” and given the choices, “They are motivated to help struggling children, OR, They are motivated by financial gain,” 807 likely voters responded, with 70 percent of these stating “Financial Gain” is the motivation and 30 percent saying the transgender industry is motivated to “Help Children.”
“Americans disagree on many issues, but they are united in saying that the transgender movement has gone too far,” said Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit. “They overwhelmingly suspect that social media and the medical industry are exploiting children for self-serving financial gain.”
“The burning question is, why are so many people silent if they believe the transgender movement is harming kids?” Myers asked. “What will it take for Americans to overcome the intimidation and say ‘enough is enough?’”
The survey comes as the UK’s Telegraph reported Sunday the National Health Service (NHS) stated most children who claim to be a gender incompatible with their biological sex are simply going through a “phase,” and should not be encouraged by doctors to change their names and pronouns.
NHS England will embrace tighter controls on transgender treatments for underage minors, including a ban on the prescription of puberty blockers that have not undergone strict clinical trials, the report stated.
In late July, Britain’s Tavistock & Portman NHS Clinic announced that, after a decade that saw its gender clinic patient population surge to a 20-fold increase, it was shutting down because it had been accused of rushing teens into taking puberty blockers.
Other European nations have moved in a similar direction, including Sweden, which issued an update to its guidelines for the treatment of minors with gender dysphoria that asserted “the risks of hormonal interventions for gender dysphoric youth outweigh the potential benefits.”
The French National Academy of Medicine followed with its statement that “a great medical caution must be taken in children and adolescents, given the vulnerability, particularly psychological, of this population and the many undesirable effects, and even serious complications, that some of the available therapies can cause.”
Similarly, Finland has already begun turning away from medical interventions for children with gender dysphoria, recommending, instead, psychotherapy.
In the United States, however, Democrat Joe Biden is taking a political stab at Republicans’ warnings about transgender drugs and surgeries for underage minors, by calling such concerns “immoral.”
Biden appeared in a NowThis News presidential forum segment with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, a report at the Washington Examiner noted.
“Sometimes, they try to block you from being able to access certain medicines, being able to access certain procedures, and so on,” Biden said, referring to state Republican lawmakers who have passed laws blocking transgender treatments and surgeries for minors. “I mean, no state should be able to do that, in my view. So, I feel very, very strongly that you should have every single solitary right, including use of your gender-identity bathrooms in public.”
“I think it’s really important that we continue to speak out about the basic fundamental rights of all human beings,” Biden said. “What’s going on in some states, I won’t get into the politics of it, but in some states, it’s just outrageous, and I think it’s immoral. The trans part’s not immoral, what they are trying to do to trans persons is immoral.”
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
