A new survey finds Jews are the American religious group most accepting of trans people. Photo by Cunaplus_M.Faba/iStock

By Adam Kovac June 8, 2023

While an increasing number of Americans are taking a harder line against issues related to gender inclusivity, Jews remain the religious group most sympathetic, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by the Public Religions Research Institute and released Thursday, showed that the number of Jews who agree with the statement, “There are only two genders,” has held firm at 44% since 2021. But in that time, the percentage of Americans who agree with that statement has grown from 59% to 65%.

Only 32% of Jews polled said they strongly believe there are only two genders while 26% said they strongly believe there is a whole range of genders. Another 30% also believe in a range of genders, but less strongly. Half of Jews said they would be OK with gender-neutral pronouns and 55% said they would be comfortable using pronouns that don’t match a friend’s perceived gender. 

Jews were the group least likely to agree with the statement “young people are being peer pressured into being transgender,” with only a quarter saying this is the case. While 40% of Americans disagree with that statement, the overwhelming majority of white evangelicals (75%), Mormons (70%), and Hispanic Protestants (60%) said they believe this is the case. 

In recent years, trans identities and gender fluidity have moved from a fringe issue to a major culture war battleground as the right has moved to ban trans issues from being discussed in schools. Some on the far right have even proposed banning gender transitioning for adults, while armed mobs have taken to protesting outside drag show venues. 

Almost every racial, religious, generational and political group moved toward rejecting gender fluidity over the past two years. Republicans went from 87% to 90%, Democrats saw an increase of 6% to 44%.

Only Mormons and Black Protestants became more inclined to disagree with the two-gender statement although the shifts were small and the overwhelming majority of both groups still reject the idea of there being genders other than male and female. 

Jews were also the group that said they would be comfortable learning that a friend is in a same-sex relationship (69%) or transgender (65%). By comparison, the overall results showed 48% of Americans would be comfortable learning a friend was in a same-sex relationship, while another 28% said it wouldn’t matter to them. When it comes to transgender friends, 41% of Americans said they would be comfortable and 25% said it wouldn’t matter. 

Just over 60% of Jews said they believe comprehensive sex education is appropriate for middle schoolers. But just over half of Jews said they believe people spend too much time talking about gender and pronouns, a statement that over 60% of total Americans agreed with. 

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