This month, Matt reported how Michigan bill 4744 would make it a felony to intimidate someone by intentionally using the wrong “preferred gender pronouns.” This is known as “misgendering." The penalty would include up to five years in jail or a $10,000 fine.
On the other hand, states like North Dakota have created legislation that allows educators to ignore trans students’ preferred pronouns and call them the name and pronouns that correspond with their biological sex rather than their gender identity. Arkansas has introduced similar legislation.
A survey conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies exclusively for Newsweek found that 44 percent of adults aged 25-34 believe that “misgendering” someone should be a criminal offense. Thirty-one percent of adults in this age category disagreed.
Among those aged 35 to 44, 38 percent said they believe misgendering should be illegal. Thirty-five percent disagree and 26 percent either “don’t know” or have “no opinion.”
Compared to Americans as a whole, 19 percent said they believe misgendering should be a criminal offense. Sixty-five percent disagree, and 12 percent “neither agree nor disagree.” Four percent said they “don’t know.”
Among American adults aged 18 to 24, 33 percent think calling someone by the wrong pronouns should be a criminal offense. Forty-eight percent in this age group disagreed.
44% of Millennials think misgendering someone should be a CRIME.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) July 16, 2023
A new poll conducted for NewsWeek found 44% of 25-34 year olds believe someone should be prosecuted for using the wrong pronouns.
The survey also found those aged 33-44 were 38% in favor of misgendering being a… pic.twitter.com/GWbcKi7FcA
Last year, a study done by researchers at UCLA’s Williams Institute claimed that 0.5 percent of all American adults, 1.3 million people, and about 300,000 youth 13 to 17 years old identify as transgender. This means the individual “identifies” with a different gender than the sex they were assigned at birth.
In September, a teacher in Ireland was suspended from his job and jailed for contempt of court after he refused to address a “transgender” student by their “preferred pronouns.”
As Townhall covered, the teacher, Enoch Burke, said in a statement that “transgenderism is against [his] Christian belief.”
“It is contrary to the scriptures, contrary to the ethos of the Church of Ireland and of my school,” he added, explaining that he “would not call a boy a girl.”