Local Legislation is Associated With Regional Transgender Attitudes.

Abstract

Using a newly developed measure of implicit transgender attitudes, we investigate the association between state-level antitransgender policies and individual-level attitudes about transgender people among residents. In a large sample of U.S. participants (N = 211,133), we find that individuals living in states with more discriminatory policies against transgender people (e.g., not allowing changes to one's gender identity on official identity papers) exhibited more negative implicit and explicit transgender attitudes. This pattern held after controlling for participant race and gender, as well as when looking only at cisgender participants. These findings extend prior work concerning how intergroup biases relate to regional characteristics such as legislation and do so in a novel and consequential context. This research also informs ongoing work concerning the role of policy-making and social norms on the development and expression of intergroup prejudice.