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A majority (56%) of Americans say that forms and online profiles shouldn’t include gender options other than “man” and “woman,” according to a Pew Research Center report published this week, despite an growing number of state governments and businesses taking steps to include people with non-binary genders.
Some 42% of Americans said they support providing more than two gender options on forms and for online profiles.
Democrat and Democrat-leaning respondents were more likely than Republican and Republican-leaning respondents to say they were in favor (60% versus 21%), with Democrats with higher educational attainment more likely to be in favor than their lower-educated counterparts. The Pew Research Center describes itself as a “nonpartisan fact tank” that studies U.S. politics and policy.
And the younger respondents were, the more likely they were to say forms should include additional gender options: 53% of people aged 18 to 29 signaled support, for example, compared to just 35% of folks aged 65 and up.
Four in 10 adults said society was not accepting enough of people who don’t identify as either a man or a woman, according to the survey, which was conducted in fall of 2018. Twenty-five percent said acceptance of such individuals was “about right,” and 32% said they thought society was “too accepting.”
Public-opinion polls notwithstanding, several states — Oregon, California, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts and Vermont — and the District of Columbia now allow individuals a third gender option on driver’s licenses, according to Pew’s count. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Illinois plan to offer such an option in 2020 or later.
Meanwhile, states including New Jersey, California, Oregon and Washington also have added gender-nonbinary options on birth certificates. New York City, which allows residents to select a third gender option on birth certificates, will also include a non-binary “X” option on death certificates starting Jan. 2, according to the city health department.
Expanded options for gender-nonconforming and transgender consumers have begun cropping up in the private sector, too. United Airlines UAL, +0.43% in March became the first U.S. airline to offer passengers gender-nonbinary options (“U” for undisclosed and “X” for unspecified) when booking flights, and other airlines have signaled plans to increase the number of gender-identification options for passengers.
(The Transportation Security Administration advises that travelers use the same name, gender and date of birth shown on government-issued identification when making a flight reservation.)
Goldman Sachs GS, -0.22% last month announced an internal initiative focused on pronouns and gender identity, while Mastercard MA, +0.95% in June introduced a “True Name” card that lets cardholders display their preferred name on debit and credit cards without requiring a legal name change.
Some tech companies have also made efforts to be more inclusive: Facebook FB, +1.76% provided dozens of gender options in 2014 and later allowed users to input their own, while subsidiary Instagram announced in June it would add a “Custom” gender selection. Apple AAPL, +0.10% and Android GOOG, +0.25% GOOGL, +0.34% now both offer gender-nonbinary emojis. Lyft LYFT, -1.55% in May began offering a gender-neutral pronoun option for its riders.
Offering additional gender options on ID can prevent transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals from being misgendered and alleviate stress, though some have cautioned that such efforts, despite potential positive impacts, could also make people more vulnerable to discrimination or harassment.
Stepping outside the gender binary appears to have some positive impact on broader social attitudes: A study of Swedes published in August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences linked the use of gender-neutral pronouns with “more favorable attitudes toward women and LGBT individuals in public life.”
