The next trans-atlantic frontier: examining the Impact of Language Choice on Support for Transgender Policies in the United Kingdom and the United States |
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| Authors: | Leticia Bode Timothy Hildebrandt |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Communication, Culture, and Technology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA;2. Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
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| Abstract: | As American and British gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals have made major wins for “pinnacle rights,” such as same-sex marriage, attention has increasingly moved to a previously overshadowed part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community: transgender (trans) people. Alongside more visibility in popular culture, trans people have been the subject of policy debates and proposals in both countries, seeking to both restrict and expand their rights. In this article we examine the extent to which language choice affects public support for policies pertaining to trans people in the United States and United Kingdom. We draw upon two survey experiments conducted in the United States and United Kingdom in July 2016 and find that, in general, different ways of referring to the trans population do not affect policy opinions. This study has implications for both understandings of the effectiveness of framing in increasingly media savvy environments and for the future of trans-related policies in the United States and United Kingdom. |
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