Miller, Patrick; Flores, Andrew; Haider-Markel, Donald; Lewis, Daniel; Taylor, Jami K
description
<p><span>“Bathroom bills” that require transgender individuals to use public restrooms that correspond to their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity have become law in many states, some imposing criminal penalties for violations. American public opinion may facilitate the passage of bathroom bills. In this research, we use original nationally representative surveys from 2016 and 2022 to explore attitudes on the bathroom issue. We argue that underlying beliefs about the major elite-driven frames of the bathroom issue—including safety of women and children, discrimination against transgender people, and safety of transgender people—shape opinions. Our results show that all three beliefs have independent direct effects on bathroom issue attitudes, and that the patterns in the data of information effects, effect strength, and resolution of seemingly conflicting beliefs may provide insight into recent anti-transgender drift in bathroom issue opinions. </span></p>
