Black Americans support the feminist agenda of gender equality but have divided opinions on whether to include transgender and nonbinary issues in racial justice advocacy, a new report finds.
The Pew Research Center on Thursday published an analysis of four general surveys it conducted between 2019 and last year. The report found nearly 80% of Black respondents said gender equality between men and women is “very important,” while about three-quarters said feminism has played a significant role in advancing women’s rights.
“However, this same kind of consensus is not present when it comes to issues of gender identity,” the study’s lead author Kiana Cox, a Pew research associate, told The Washington Times.
Black adults were divided into nearly equal thirds on the question of tolerance for transgender people, with 36% saying the country has not gone far enough in accepting them and 29% saying the nation has gone too far. The remaining 31% said the level of acceptance has been “about right.”
The report did not explain the divide in Black attitudes toward gender equality and transgender advocacy. In an email, a Pew spokeswoman said the research center could not “speculate about” the reasons due to its nonpartisan status.
However, the report found Black conservatives were less likely to say a person’s gender can be different than their sex assigned at birth. Black Americans who attend religious services at least weekly were more likely than those who seldom or never go to say views on transgender people are changing “too quickly.”
Meanwhile, Black adults with a bachelor’s degree were more likely than those with a high school diploma to support feminist concerns and say Black advocacy groups should address the concerns of Black LGTBQ people.
Black women were also more likely than Black men in the surveys to support gender equality and post about it on social media, describe themselves as feminists and say Black advocacy groups should include LGBTQ issues.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.