1 Introduction

In 1952, the U.S. media created a sensation over the first male homosexual to receive surgery and hormones in order to resemble a woman. ‘Christine’ Jorgensen became an evangelist for the procedure. Over time, his followers generated an industry large enough to force the mental health profession to consider desires to ‘be’ the opposite sex as ‘normal.’ Likewise, those who practiced ‘sex reassignment’ were viewed as providing a ‘cure.’ This collaboration between the mental health profession and the LGBT movement has completely reversed ‘common sense’ laws against genital mutilation in favor of a new ‘legal reality.’ Now, even declaring oneself transgender enables them to change their birth certificate.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden endorses this new, psychological ‘reality.’ He says transgenderism is a civil right and will, if elected, “restore transgender students’ access to sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms” (joebiden.com/lgbtq-policy). Doubling down, Biden called “the violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people an ‘epidemic that needs national leadership’ and accused the Trump administration of fueling ‘the flames of transphobia’” (nbcnews.com, October 19, 2020).

During September 2020, we surveyed a quasi-random sample of 302 Southern Colorado adults to find the proportion buying into candidate Biden’s agenda. The questions included: (1) Do you agree with Biden about Transgender individuals? (2) Transgender individuals are: Deeply mentally disturbed, giving others dysfunctional ideas/Somewhat confused/Not sure-No Opinion/Mentally healthy/Doing the right thing and helping others do the right thing; (3) Should Transgender females be allowed to compete in women’s sports? (4) Should Transgender individuals be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice?

Respondents were recruited from medical facilities, parks, and shopping centers. Half of those approached refused to take the survey, generally without seeing it or knowing the topic. Women comprised just over half the sample (54%); the median age group was 41-50. Compared to Census Bureau estimates for 2019, our sample was fairly similar to the Colorado population, but with somewhat more women and fewer Hispanics. 18% of Coloradans had a high school education in Census estimates vs. 9% of our sample, 32% vs. 27% had some college, 32% vs. 36% were college grads, and 18% vs. 28% were post-graduates. Census breakdowns for race show 68% white vs. 72% of our sample, 5% vs. 7% black, 22% vs. 11% Hispanic, and 4% vs. 3% Asian.

Southern Colorado leans Republican. In our sample, Biden was the intended choice of 28%, while Trump garnered 49%. Independents split 38% for Trump and 23% for Biden.

2 Religion, Political Party Affect Agreement with Biden

Age, race, and educational attainment did not systematically predict agreement with Biden about transgenderism being the new ‘civil rights.’ Overall, 46% disagreed and 28% agreed (e.g., more than 3 to 2 against Biden’s opinion). Women tended to disagree with Biden less (39%) than men did (54%), and conversely agreed with him (32%) more than men (22%) (P < 0.04).

Religion and political party were more potent predictors. 66% of the sample said they were Christian, 5% Mormon, and 1% Jewish. 23% claimed no religion. Since Christians, Mormons, and Jews all esteem the Biblical Old Testament, if the first three faith groups are combined (Judeo-Christians) and compared with the not religious (Nones):

• 56% of Judeo-Christians disagreed with Biden, while 20% agreed. Nones were reversed: 49% agreed with Biden, but only 25% disagreed.

• Degree of religiosity played a major role: 73% of the ‘very religious,’ 56% of the ‘religious,’ and 32% of the ‘somewhat religious’ disagreed with Biden, while only 26% of the Nones or ‘anti-religious’ disagreed (P < 0.0001).

With respect to political party, those who claimed to be Democrat and intended to vote for Biden might be considered ‘solid Democrats.’ Likewise, those claiming to be Republican and intending to vote for Trump might be classified as ‘solid Republicans.’

• 6% of solid Democrats and 81% of solid Republicans disagreed with Biden, while 80% of solid Democrats and 2% of solid Republicans agreed.

• Independents and others disagreed with Biden more than they agreed (36% vs. 25%).

In this survey, being religious was not as influential as considering oneself a member of the two major parties. The ‘solid’ members of each party were almost mirror images of each other. This suggests a very deep political divide that transcends who gets elected. Interestingly, Independents were not only split in their opinions, but over a third (38%) said they were ‘Not Sure’ whether they agreed with Biden.

3 Trangender ‘Females’ Competing in Women’s Sports

Only about a quarter of the sample (26%) said that men or boys who identify as transgender should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Over half (56%) said they should not be allowed. Women were more willing to let transgender ‘females’ compete in women’s sports than men were, 34% to 18% (P < 0.009). Nones were also more willing (37%) than the religious (20%) to let transgender ‘females’ contend (P < 0.0001). The very religious were the most opposed to such competition.

Solid Democrats were much more apt (50%) than were solid Republicans (5%) to let transgenders in women’s sports (P < 0.0001). Of note, while Independents again registered divided opinions, just over half (51%) said ‘No’ to allowing transgender ‘females’ to compete.

4 Allowing Transgenders Their Choice of Bathrooms/Locker Rooms

Similar to views about competing in women’s sports, only 30% of the sample said that transgender individuals should be allowed to use the bathroom or locker room of their choice. Again, over half (56%) said ‘No.’ Women were more in favor than men, 38% to 22% (P = 0.01), and Nones much more in favor (54%) than Judeo-Christians (22%) (P < 0.0001). There was also a clear age-related trend: those 40 and above were more likely to dislike transgender choice of bathrooms and locker rooms than those were were younger (P < 0.05).

Political party was the most significant predictor of opinion about transgender use of bathrooms and locker rooms. Solid Democrats were 70% in favor and 15% opposed, while solid Republicans were only 7% in favor and 88% opposed. While again split, almost half of Independents and others (49%) were opposed to giving transgenders their choice in the matter.

5 Characterizing Transgender Individuals

Considering how respondents characterized transgender individuals, political party trumped religiousness once again. Though one might expect a philosophic anchor as religion — which purports to answer questions about where we came from, our mission/purpose on earth, and what is wrong and right — to provide clear guidance on this question, formal religions do not have much history with ‘sex-change’ operations or treatments. Political philosophy was more influential in predicting the opinions in our sample (see summary in Table 1 below).

Although there were no systematic age or educational level differences regarding whether transgenders should be considered disturbed or normal, the political and religious divides were stark: 6% of Biden voters vs. 59% of Trump voters said transgenders were ‘disturbed’; 75% of Biden vs. 9% of Trump voters said they were ‘normal’. Similarly, 70% of the very religious vs. 17% of Nones said transgenders were disturbed, while 8% of the very religious vs. 62% of Nones said they were ‘normal’.

Of note, 60% of self-described Independent or Other voters said that Transgender individuals were either disturbed or confused (27%), or that they were not sure (33%). This is in contrast to 62% of the Nones and 80% of the solid Democrats who indicated Transgenders were mentally healthy or doing the ‘right thing.’

6 Conclusions

U.S. society and the Western World have undergone a dramatic shift in attitude toward homosexuality and transgenderism within a generation. Homosexuals have, of course, cross-dressed and incorporated aspects of the opposite sex in their presentation and sexual behavior for a long time and in many cultures. Afghani men, for instance, often wear women’s make up and clothing for this very purpose. Nevertheless, that at least 2% of U.S. High School students now claim to ‘be’ transgender is a tremendous validation of the success of the LGBT movement. The collaboration between mental health professionals and the LGBT movement has been incredibly successful at moving society in their preferred direction.

The main obstacles to a complete reversal of traditional public opinion appear to be the same factors driving the results of our survey: religion and political affiliation. Those in the Judeo-Christian camp, particularly if very religious, are still opposed to the transgender agenda proposed by Joe Biden and the Democrat party. Solid Republicans appear to be even more opposed to this agenda.

Independent voters lay in-between the two poles of the major parties. Although 40% of Independents expressed positive opinions about transgender individuals, half were not in favor of either letting transgender ‘females’ compete in women’s sports or letting transgenders use bathrooms or locker rooms of their choice. Whether this disagreement with Joe Biden’s transgender agenda propels a non-trifling percentage of Independents to vote instead for Donald Trump remains to be seen.

Regardless of how the 2020 election turns out, Western elite are trying to enforce a psychologically-driven notion that pretending to be the opposite sex makes you ‘real’ and that it is society’s responsibility to favor the desires of transgenders over the wishes of normal citizens. It violates both common sense and U.S. Constitutional freedoms of association and speech to force society to pay for ‘sex-change treatments’ and to require those who believe in biological normalcy to join in pretending that transgender ‘males’ and ‘females’ are ‘the same’ as natural males and females.