This week, Townhall covered how Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin hit back at school districts that announced they would not follow his administration’s guidance surrounding transgender students. Youngkin’s policies would keep parents involved in their child’s education and inform them if their child identifies as “transgender,”
School districts in another state, led by Democrats, introduced similar policies and came under fire for doing so. But, a new poll is showing that this type of policy has the support of most of the state's residents.
Most New Jerseyans support policies that require schools to notify parents of their child’s gender identity, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.
According to the poll, 77 percent of New Jerseyans believe that middle and high schools should be required to notify parents if their child identifies as anything other than what is listed on their school registration. Even if notification is not required, 55 percent said it would be better for a school to inform parents of a student’s gender identity request. Among the parents of minors, 81 percent said schools should require notification of gender identity requests.
And, just under half believe that the state’s public schools are teaching too much on gender ideology (via Monmouth University):
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Just under half (45%) of New Jersey adults say the state’s public schools are doing too much when it comes to teaching about gender identity. This compares to 23% who say schools are doing the right amount and 16% who say they are not doing enough. Opinion among parents of children under the age of 18 is similar to the views of nonparents on this question.
While a majority of New Jerseyans (60%) approve of teaching students in grades 9 through 12 about “the range of ways people express their gender,” support dips below a majority for doing this in grades 6 through 8 (42%) and drops to less than one-quarter for grades 1 through 5 (22%). Parent and nonparent opinion is similar on these questions.
“It does seem clear that a large cross section of New Jerseyans are uncomfortable with discussing these issues in elementary school even though the state has different gender identity education standards for various grade levels. An open question is to what extent those distinctions are understood by the public,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in the poll write-up.
As for restrooms and locker rooms and competing in sports, a majority of respondents said that “transgender” students should be using the facilities that align with their biological sex instead of their gender identity:
The poll also asked about transgender recognition and accommodation issues that have been in the news recently. A majority of state residents (58%) say transgender students should use the bathroom facilities designated as “boys” or “girls” that match their assigned gender at birth rather than their current gender identity. Just 28% feel transgender students should use the bathroom that matches their gender identity and 14% are unsure how this should be handled. However, a majority of New Jerseyans (55%) do support providing gender-inclusive bathrooms in schools for students of any gender to use.
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When it comes to student athletics, a majority of the state feels that transgender students should play on teams with students of the same gender as their birth-assigned sex. These results are similar in separate questions about participation on sports teams for transgender students who were recorded as male (64%) or female (59%) on their birth certificates.
In June, Townhall reported that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) administration sued three school districts in the state over these kinds of policies that require staff to inform parents if their children show signs of changing their “gender identity.”
“School policies that single out or target LGBTQ+ youth fly in the face of our State’s longstanding commitment to equality,” Sundeep Iyer, director of the Attorney General’s Division on Civil Rights, said in a statement. “Our laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression, plain and simple, and we will not waver in our commitment to enforcing those protections.”
