Public support for transgender people’s ability to change sex on their birth certificate collapses compared to recent years, major study reveals

Public support for transgender A major study shows that people’s ability to change the gender on their birth certificate has declined dramatically in recent years.

Only 24 percent of people now agree that transgender people should be able to change their gender ‘if they want to’ – down from the 58 percent support level in 2016.

The results emerged as part of the UK Social Attitudes report, carried out annually by the National Center for Social Research.

Researchers also looked at public opinion on trans rights – and came to similar conclusions. When asked if they thought transgender rights had gone too far, 47 percent of the public believed this was the case. Just over one in five (22 percent) felt they had not gone far enough.

Only 24 percent of people now agree that transgender people should be able to change their gender ‘if they want to’ – down from the 58 percent support level in 2016 (stock photo)

The results emerged as part of the UK Social Attitudes report, carried out annually by the National Center for Social Research. (Pictured thousands of people taking part in a London Trans+ Pride march from the Wellington Arch to Soho in July 2022)

This compares to 2021 – when the question was first asked – when 33 percent of the public said they thought trans rights had gone too far.

The researchers said: ‘One could argue that this apparent shift in attitudes may be limited to the specific issue of gender self-identification.

‘Alternatively, perhaps the intensity of the debate [has] has influenced attitudes towards people who are transgender more broadly, with the result that views on society’s protection of their rights may have shifted in a more illiberal direction.”

Fiona McAnena from women’s rights charity Sex Matters praised the findings, saying: ‘This huge change in opinion is down to the fact that the more the public understands the real impact of pretending people can change gender, the more less they like it. It.

“People are now realizing that this isn’t just a matter of being nice to a small minority.”

Under the Gender Recognition Act, people can only change the gender on their birth certificate if their doctor has confirmed that they are transgender and they have obtained a gender recognition certificate.

In 2020, ministers ruled out reforming the law to allow people to identify themselves and legally change gender without a medical diagnosis. Attempts to introduce self-ID in Scotland were blocked last year.