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Isabelle Fabrizio

Dr. Rauterkus

AP Government

3/5/17

Do Americans Support LGBT Rights?

The rights of those in the LGBT community are new issues brought to the American

people's attention. Since the ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 legalizing same-sex marriage

nationwide, different issues about the LGBT community have taken the spotlight, namely

transgender rights. According to our study, those polled overwhelmingly support the civil rights

of the LGBT community.

Seventy-five percent of those surveyed believe that transgender people have the right to

change their legal status as opposed to the nineteen percent who do not. However, once asked to

support LGBT rights despite personal religious belief, agreement lowers by fourteen percent.

These decisions do not exist in a vacuum. Once weighed against other rights, support drops. This

shows that rights and political beliefs cannot be studied in a vacuum. There are competing

interests which must be weighed carefully. When competing interests are present, support for any

one right goes down: in this case the competing interests are LGBT rights versus personal

religious rights.

Looking at the comments shows even more ambiguity. Even with high support of

transgender rights, caveats are mentioned. Some say transgender people can change their legal

status after surgery. Others say once the person is eighteen and legally an adult. Yet still others
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say that the birth sex must also appear on all legal paperwork. Finally, there is an underlining

theme saying that gender is biological and the process is confusing.

There is more support for LGBT rights now than there were even a few years ago.

However, as you add complications to the equation, the public support is reduced. When adding

more competing interests the question stands asking if more competing interest will drop support

even more.