When Caitlyn Jenner, previously known as Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner, came out as a Republican, the liberal media were shocked. A transgender person with conservative views? Oh my, how was that possible?! Didn’t she know that, as a member of the LGBTQ community, she had to be a proud Democrat?
Well, a new study now finds that Jenner is far from the only transgender person with conservative political views. In fact, transgender people — both women and men — are more conservative on average than straight white men.
The study, “A Rainbow Wave? LGBTQ Liberal Political Perspectives During Trump’s Presidency: an Exploration of Sexual, Gender, and Queer Identity Gaps,” was directed at a representative sample of U.S. adults. It was conducted by Meredith Worthen, a sociology professor at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“[I]n comparison to all [straight] cis men as well as all cis LGBTQ non-heterosexual men, trans men and women were significantly less liberal,” the study reports. “Overall, these patterns demonstrate that trans men and women have a different relationship with liberalism than cis men and women do.” Just in case you don’t know what “cis” is: it’s a person who identifies as the sex they were born.
Apparently, we need a specific, special word for that normal situation now. Being a “man” or “woman” isn’t enough.
“Trans men and women may feel that their interests are not well represented by liberal perspectives and policies and as a result, they may not identify with liberal politics,” Professor Worthen explains. “Overall, the relationships between trans identity and liberalism found in the current study largely go against the expected patterns … and demonstrate the need for continued efforts to understand these dynamics.”
She goes on to say that we now need extra research “to better understanding trans men and women’s political perspectives and motivations.”
On the one hand, this is of course very good news, if only because it shocks the liberal establishment. They are so sure that every minority is liberal. Well, guess what? They’re not. Minority individuals may actually have very different views than what their liberal Masters would like.
On the other hand, as an old school classically liberal commentator, I can’t help but object to this group-think. We have to “understand” what “transgender people think about politics?” I had no idea that, unlike ‘cis’-folks, transgender people are considered to be one mass of person with exactly the same views.
How about we treat individuals as individuals? Is that an idea? Or would that be too complex for our liberal friends to deal with?
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