Testing Contact Theory and Attitudes on Transgender Rights

Most of the public opinion research about sexual and gender minorities has focused on attitudes about lesbians and gay men, support for gay rights policies, and the factors that affect these attitudes. In particular, interpersonal contact with gay and lesbian individuals consistently is shown to positively affect attitudes toward these groups. Comparable studies about transgender people and transgender rights are few in number, and these studies find inconsistent effects of interpersonal contact on attitudes toward transgender people. Through the use of two unique national surveys, we explore the influence of contact with transgender people on attitudes about transgender people and about transgender rights. Results show that contact has a positive effect on attitudes, and that this effect is consistent across the two surveys and across different specifications of interpersonal contact. We discuss the implications for interpersonal contact with transgender people. Interpersonal contact is a key factor shaping attitudes toward gay and lesbian individuals and their rights (Lewis 2011), but evidence regarding the effect of contact with transgender individuals1 is unsettled. For instance, while interpersonal contact with gay men and lesbians has a positive secondary transfer effect to opinions about transgender rights (Norton and Herek 2013), no such effect exists for contact with transgender people (Flores 2015). Given recent controversies related to public restroom usage, as demonstrated by debates surrounding North Carolina’s contentious Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, we empirically examine whether and under what conditions contact with transgender individuals influences attitudes about transgender people and rights. We find that interpersonal contact has a positive effect on attitudes that is consistent across both surveys and multiple specifications of contact.