(RNS) —Since coming into office, President Trump has signed a slew of executive orders that attempt to restrict the rights and care available to LGBTQ+ people and particularly transgender people.
Among the president’s directives: excluding transgender people from serving in the military; blocking gender-affirming care for minors; and banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports.
FILE – In this Friday, April 19, 2019 file photo, a gay pride rainbow flag flies with the U.S. flag in front of the Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
States are now following his example: Iowa’s Republican governor signed into law last week a measure that ends state civil rights protections for transgender people.
But over the past decade, Americans have remained broadly supportive of non-discrimination laws and policies toward LGBTQ+ people. They are less supportive of gender-transition medical care for minors, a new PRRI survey shows.
The survey, part of the American Values Atlas, which includes 22,000 adults from across the U.S. polled four times over the course of 2024, shows that support for same-sex marriage and non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people remains strong.
Some 75% of Americans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in housing, employment and public accommodation, up from 71% in 2015.
“Support for Nondiscrimination Protections by LGBTQ People, by Religious Affiliation, 2015, 2023, 2024” (Graphic courtesy of PRRI)
Religious groups support them, too. Jehovah’s Witnesses were the only religious group where such support has fallen, from 51% in 2015 to 31% in 2024.
“Over time, more Americans are supportive of non-discrimination laws and policies toward LGBTQ Americans than they were about a decade ago, and more Americans support same-sex marriage equality or marriage equality than they did a decade ago,” said Melissa Deckman, PRRI’s CEO.
The survey did, however, record a drop in support for nondiscrimination among one group: Americans ages 18-29. These youngest American adults have shown a gradual decrease in support for LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination laws, from 80% in 2015 to 73% in 2024.
Deckman said that drop is most likely among young Republicans.
“For younger Republicans, there’s been more of an emphasis in the last couple of years on opposition to transgender rights, and I suspect that that’s probably what’s happening,” Deckman said.
Americans also oppose religious-based service refusals, such as when a small-business owner refuses to provide products or services to LGBTQ+ people if doing so would violate their religious beliefs: 58% of Americans oppose such refusals. Among religious groups, Latter-day Saints (40%), Jehovah’s Witnesses (37%) and white evangelical Protestants (31%) are the only faith groups where majorities support religious-based service refusals to LGBTQ+ people. By contrast, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Catholics (both white and Hispanic), Black Protestants and mainline Protestants oppose religious service refusals.
“Opposition to Religiously Based Refusals for LGBTQ People, by Religious Affiliation, 2015, 2023, 2024” (Graphic courtesy of PRRI)
When it comes to gender-affirming medical care for minors, Americans remain almost evenly divided: 49% are opposed to laws that would prevent parents from allowing their child to receive medical care for a gender transition, and 47% favor them. Opposition to transition care for minors was a new question on the survey, so there were no comparisons with past years.
Seventy percent of Democrats oppose laws that would prevent parents from allowing their child to receive medical care for a gender transition, but only 30% of Republicans oppose these laws.
Among religious groups, Christians and Muslims of all denominations do not support gender-transition medical care for minors, the survey suggests.
Support for allowing parents to get transition care for minors drops to 31% among white evangelicals and 30% among Latter-day Saints.
“Opposition to Laws Restricting Gender-Affirming Medical Care for Minors, by Religious Affiliation and Christian Nationalism” (Graphic courtesy of PRRI)
Overall, the survey found, 10% of Americans identified as LGBTQ+ in 2024. Generation Z, Americans born between 1997-2012, had the highest number of people identifying as LGBTQ+ at 24%.
LGBTQ+ Americans are more likely than the general population to identify as Democrats (39% vs. 29%) and less likely to identify as Republicans (10% vs. 29%). They are, however, just as likely to identify as independents (28% vs. 26%).
