Only 44%, or less than half, of Democrat voters are against schools counseling children about their gender identity and sexual orientation without parental consent, according to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports.
When asked, “Should schools and teachers be allowed to counsel students on their sexual and gender identities without parental knowledge or consent?” about 60% of Americans said they were opposed to schools counseling children behind parents’ backs.
Twenty-six percent of Americans surveyed said school staff should be allowed to counsel students on gender issues without parental knowledge and 14% of people said they did not have an opinion on the matter.
Broken down by political party, 75% of Republicans and 64% of independents said they were against schools counseling students on these issues without parental consent.
Women were more opposed than men were to the idea of schools circumventing parents, with 65% of women expressing opposition to men’s 55%.
The poll also asked respondents if they agree that “there are only two genders, male and female.” To that question, 23% of Americans said they disagree that there are only two genders.
Again, less than half of Democrats, 47%, said they agree there are only two genders, while 72% of Republicans and 54% of independents said the same.
A higher percentage of Black participants, 64%, said they agree there are only two genders, versus the 55% of white participants who said the same.
According to the poll, a 62% majority of Americans approve of state laws banning gender-transition surgeries for minors.
Minor students are allowed to use preferred pronouns at more than 17,000 public K-12 schools across the country, according to a list compiled by Parents Defending Education. In many cases, school staff members are required to hide a student’s gender identity transition from their parents.
While some states, including Florida, Iowa and North Dakota, have passed legislation requiring schools to inform parents if their child asks to identify as a different gender, parents in several states have filed lawsuits against school districts for allegedly keeping them in the dark about the change to their child’s gender identity.
According to The Daily Wire, some of the larger districts facing legal action from parents include Chicago Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, D.C. Public Schools, Baltimore City Public Schools, San Francisco Unified School District, Portland Public Schools, and Seattle Public Schools.
Parents in Massachusetts sued their children’s middle school for allegedly concealing both the siblings’ gender transitions. An Obama-appointed federal judge said the school officials’ actions do not “shock the conscience” when he threw the lawsuit out.
As of last year, an estimated 300,000 minors ages 13 to 17 identified as transgender, according to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute.
The poll was conducted May 24-25 and surveyed 1,116 people. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.