UK must ‘stand up for trans rights’ after decline in support from young people

Campaigners are calling on Britons to ‘stand up for trans people’ after a poll found that young people are increasingly opposing trans rights.

YouGov findings released yesterday show anti-trans views, especially among women and young people, have been growing since 2018.

Nearly one in two Britons (49%) say that trans people should be able to live according to their chosen gender identity by socially transitioning.

This is a slight decrease of six points compared to a similar poll in 2022.

But 35% are opposed to social transition, which can include taking on new names, pronouns, haircuts or clothing, up 10 points from three years ago.

In 2022, women supported allowing people to change their gender legally by 44% compared to 32%. Now the figures have since switched to 37% in favour and 42% opposed.

The survey, the fourth conducted by the pollster, showed a shift among Gen Z as well.

The number of 18-24-year-olds who say trans people should be able to socially transition – 61% – remains about the same as in 2022.

But the number opposed rose eight points to 25%.

Support among young people for the legal right to change gender has also ‘diminished’, YouGov said. Exactly half of young Britons say the trans community should have the right to do so, seven points less than in 2022.

Since the prior study, those against trans people legally changing their gender – a process that can take years – has risen 16 points to 36%.

Simone, 22, however, isn’t one of them. ‘As young people, we should be concerned by the normalisation of transphobia. In fact, we should be terrified – and furious,’ they told Metro.

Simone, who is queer and volunteers for the LGBTQ+ young person charity Just Like Us, said: ‘We now live in a society where it is acceptable for celebrities, news media and politicians to spread misinformation about a marginalised group.

‘As the public buys into this narrative, attacks on trans people have reached a record high. Historically, scapegoating one vulnerable social group has led democracy nowhere good.’

Laura Mackay, chief executive of Just Like Us, which has been nominated at the Metro Pride Awards, pointed to a similar study the charity did that revealed that people who know someone who is trans are more than twice as likely to be an ally.

YouGov found that only two in five Britons know someone who is trans.

‘This fear of the unknown is only heightened by increasingly toxic narratives in media and politics,’ Mackay said.

‘These kinds of attitudes are incredibly damaging – the trans young people we work with often tell us about the impact they have on their mental health and wellbeing.’

Jess O’Thomson, who researches transphobia and the far-right, says the results of YouGov’s attitude survey are unsurprising, to say the least.

‘Although opinion polls are often presented as neutral representations of the issues people are interested in, they are actually more representative of what the media and political establishment have chosen to make into an issue,’ they told Metro.

‘With relentless attacks on trans people by politicians and the press, it is unsurprising to see anti-trans views on the rise.’

YouGov said that the attitude survey comes as US President Donald Trump has launched a wave of executive orders targeting trans rights. Across the pond, meanwhile, the increasingly popular Reform UK has criticised trans ‘indoctrination’.

About four in 10 (41%) of the 2,078 people YouGov surveyed said they paid ‘a lot’ or ‘a fair amount’ of attention to trans rights in politics and the media, up from 35% in 2022.

‘The mainstreaming and laundering of such views has been and continues to be, a deliberate political strategy adopted by those who wish to undermine trans people’s human rights,’ Thomson added.

‘This is a strategy that has been very successful for the far right on other issues, such as anti-immigration.’

Stonewall questioned why YouGov even polls people’s views on trans people at all.

‘Polling the general public on the rights of a marginalised group further stokes division and undermines social cohesion,’ the LGBTQ+ charity told Metro.

‘There would rightfully be uproar if the public were asked their views on whether other marginalised groups should have equal rights or be allowed to participate in daily life.’

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