The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) commissioned Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research to survey likely voters about their knowledge of and attitude toward transgender people.
In 2013 the Public Religion Research Institute reported that 9% of Americans reported having a close friend or family member who was transgender. Last year, an HRC survey revealed that 17% of respondents either personally knew or worked with someone who was transgender. This year that latter number is up 5 points to 22%.
What’s important is that the number of Americans who know someone who is transgender is growing rapidly. And what’s equally important, those who do know a transgender person are much more likely to have a positive impression of transgender Americans. This is consistent with our survey research on marriage equality and other LGBT issues, which has consistently found that it is important for LGBT people to share their personal stories. We asked if likely voters “personally know or work with someone who is transgender.” For those who responded to our survey saying they “personally know or work with someone who is transgender,” their favorability for “transgender people” is 66 percent, with 13 percent unfavorable. That’s a favorability a net of +53 percentage points. Compare that to those who said they “do not” personally know or work with a transgender person. The rating for those who don’t is 37 favorable, 30 unfavorable, a net of only +7. (The margin of error for this survey subgroup is 6.67 percent).
The trend is positive: The Favorability/Unfavorability measurement is moving in our favor.
7/9/11 26/36 Net: -9
3/16/14 38/28 Net: +9
1/31/15 44/25 Net: +19
This is powerful testimony to what we in the LGBT community have always known - that the more people who know us, and become familiar with our personal stories, the more supportive they are of inclusion and equality. This data tells us that the dramatic increase in the visibility of transgender people in our workplaces, our homes, and in our popular culture has helped propel this growing support of transgender Americans.
--HRC President Chad Griffin
HRC of course tends to focus on the corporate world. In that area 2/3 of Fortune 500 companies now offer explicit gender identity protection and 34% offer transgender-inclusive health care.
On the downside:
--More than 70% of the victims of LGBTQ or HIV-motivated hate violence homicides in 2013 were transgender women, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. In addition there have all ready been at least 7 transgender women murdered in the US this year.
--Fifteen percent of transgender people in the US live in extreme poverty (earning less that $10,000 per year), compared to 4% of the overall population.
--There is no training accreditation for transgender health services or certificate in transgender medicine offered in this country,
leading to a lack of competent care, and few doctors who provide transition-related surgery -- most geographic areas have none.
--In
a survey of LGBT youth, less that half of transgender respondents reported having an adult in the family they could turn to if worried or sad...and only 27% described their families as accepting.
As we celebrate the growing visibility and acceptance of transgender friends, family members and colleagues, we must acknowledge the real risks for transgender people in living authentically. It’s imperative that we continue to call for policies that protect people based on their gender identity, and continue our work to ensure that everyone gets a fair shot in our schools, our workplaces, and our communities.