(LifeSiteNews) – Clear majorities of Americans oppose referring to children by pronouns different from their actual sex and compelling teachers to do the same, according to a recent survey by Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies and the Harris Poll.
The poll, conducted among 1,963 registered voters from May 18 to May 19, found that 59% of Americans agree kids “should be called by their sex” rather than “able to pick their pronouns,” with 60% agreeing that the latter is an “excessive measure that does more to confuse kids about their sex.”
The party breakdown of the question fell largely along predictable partisan lines, though notably 64% of self-described independent voters agreed kids should be referred to by their actual sex.
63% of respondents also said teachers should “have discretion to use pronouns as they see appropriate” rather than risking their jobs if they refuse to indulge preferred transgender pronouns, including 67% of independents. In addition, 73% rejected the idea that “it should be classified as illegal discrimination if you fail to use someone’s selected pronouns.”
READ: Wisconsin school district charges students with ‘sexual harassment’ for not using trans pronouns
The findings put the American people squarely at odds with the Biden administration, which endorses surgical and chemical “transitioning” of children, refuses to oppose teachers hiding child “transitions” from parents, and has proposed tying federal education funding to public schools’ obedience to LGBT “nondiscrimination.”
“A third [change] that is unspoken and won’t appear in the new rule but will have implications, it will be essentially a muzzling of free speech for individuals who for example don’t toe the party line on gender identity and will be forced … to use an individual’s preferred pronouns or be faced potentially with Title IX sex discrimination charges,” says Heritage Foundation legal analyst Sarah Perry. “So it will not only require the adherence to these beliefs. It will force speech. It will compel speech in violation of the First Amendment, and we have yet to even examine fully the parameters of how that is going to play out in the court room.”
Across the country, teachers and students alike have been subjected to severe penalties for “misgendering,” i.e., neglecting or refusing to refer to others by opposite-sex pronouns.
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According to modern biology, sex is rooted in an individual’s chromosomes and reflected by hundreds of genetic characteristics. In addition to denying scientific reality, coercing individuals to recognize an individual’s gender dysphoria as “gender identity” coerces Christians and Jews to contradict Genesis 1:27, which teaches that God created both sexes in His image.
A range of scientific literature indicates that youth gender confusion usually resolves on its own by adulthood, and indulging it often fails to prevent – or even prolongs – significant mental and emotional harm up to and including attempted suicide (with or without surgery), including because fixating on “gender affirmation” tends to distract from exploring other issues that may be the actual root of a patient’s mental or emotional unrest. Accordingly, several “detransitioners” have spoken out about the harm they experienced from being rushed into “transitions” without adequate warnings when they were young.
Prominently displaying or announcing one’s “preferred gender pronouns” is also a popular piece of etiquette in LGBT activist circles and among Democrat politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris. One of the Biden administration’s very first acts upon taking office was to add a pronoun field to the White House website’s contact page.