Journal Club: The Perception of Trans People in the Workplace
A 2024 study dives into the differences in the perceived acceptance of trans people and the reality.
by Veronica Esposito
In the landmark 2020 case Bostock v. Clayton, the Supreme Court found that trans individuals had a right to be protected against workplace discrimination. This finding was of immense importance to trans individuals, as it is widely known that they have reduced economic outcomes largely due to discrimination. Moreover, a 2024 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that over 80% of trans people have reported discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace.
With Trump Administration efforts to eliminate funding for research and organizations that seek to ameliorate workplace discrimination against trans people, including erasing such data from even being recorded. With the future of Bostock in question, it is extremely important to continue exploring the question of workplace discrimination against trans people.
A 2024 paper by researcher Billur Aksoy and colleagues sought to better understand attitudes of coworkers toward their trans colleagues. This study used an innovative research method to overcome “social desirability bias”—that is, the tendency for people to voice more socially acceptable beliefs despite not actually believing them. Via this method, they found that “support in the United States for transgender people in the labor market is significantly overreported by 8%–10%” due to the social desirability bias effect.
Aksoy’s study revolved around a questionnaire that included four “non-key statements” and one “key statement.” One of the four non-key statements was one that Aksoy expected almost all respondents to agree with (e.g., “I have a driver’s license”), and another was a statement she expected almost none to agree with (e.g. “I can fluently speak at least three languages”). The last two non-key statements were to be negatively correlated—that is, conservatives would be likely to agree with one, and liberals with the other (e.g., “I think COVID-19 health risks were overstated”; “I support the Black Lives Matter movement”). The key statement in the survey, which could be roughly equated with the experimental variable, had to do with supporting trans people in the workplace (e.g., “I would be comfortable having a transgender manager at work”).
Subjects in the control group were given a “short list” of 4 statements that did not include the statement about a trans manager, and subjects in the experimental group were given a “long list” of 5 statements that did include the trans-specific statement. Everyone was then asked to indicate how many statements in each list were true for them. Researchers hoped this approach would grant a level of anonymity that would overcome any social desirability bias.
This list-based survey was followed by a direct question survey, in which respondents were explicitly asked if they supported nondiscrimination policies for trans people in the workplace. Overall, 1806 responses were collected.
Aksoy and colleagues found that when asking about both comfort with a trans manager and nondiscrimination policies, respondents were more likely to voice support via direct questions than when given anonymity of the list-based responses. They estimate the true level of support for either statement to be around 72-3%, while the voiced support was about 80%.
Interestingly, Aksoy and colleagues also found that the public believes support for trans rights to be much lower than it actually is. They found that respondents estimated support for a trans manager at only 48% of the population, and support for nondiscrimination policies at only 57%—much lower than the support they actually found on either question. This indicates the politically significant point that perceived support of trans people is likely to be much lower than actual support—this discrepancy can be dangerous for trans communities, as many centrist politicians rush to bargain away trans rights for perceived political gain.
The experiment also found that women, non-heterosexuals, and those with at least a bachelor’s degree were all more likely to support trans rights than men, heterosexuals, and those lacking a bachelor’s degree. Aksoy and colleagues also found greater support for LGB workplace rights over trans rights.
These findings are crucial, as the Supreme Court is likely to rule over many key trans rights cases in upcoming years, and Congress will have numerous opportunities to legislate on trans rights. Both of these branches of government have shown a propensity to change their behavior based on perceived levels of public support for various policies. In particular, rights to workplace non-discrimination and gender-affirming medical care are both vulnerable to decisions by legislators and justices based on perceived levels of public support. It is important that the actual level of support for trans rights is known—that this support is robust, and much higher than widely believed.
Veronica Esposito (she/her) is a writer and therapist based in the Bay Area. She writes regularly for The Guardian, Xtra Magazine, and KQED, the NPR member station for Northern California, on the arts, mental health, and LGBTQ+ issues.