Lewis, Daniel; Flores, Andrew; Haider-Markel, Donald; Miller, Patrick; Taylor, Jami K
description
Scholars often highlight the roles that group threat and intergroup solidarity play<br>in shaping attitudes toward outgroups. Competition among social groups, including<br>over values and culture, can underlie negative attitudes toward outgroups. Mean-<br>while, perceptions of discrimination against outgroups can drive feelings of solidar-<br>ity, sympathy, or empathy, which may foster more positive attitudes. These social<br>identity concepts are often studied in the context of racial, ethnic, and religious<br>prejudice, with less attention to how they apply to attitudes toward transgender and<br>gender diverse people. Using a 2022 national survey, we assess how respondents’<br>perceptions of cultural threat from the LGBTQ community and perceptions of dis-<br>crimination among a range of outgroups are related to attitudes about transgender<br>rights policies, including access to public restrooms, participation in school sports,<br>and medical transition care. We find that cultural threat is consistently associated<br>with support for policies that restrict the rights of transgender people, but perceived<br>outgroup discrimination tends not to show a significant relationship with these<br>attitudes.