By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, June 16, 2025Unsplash/Austris Augusts

Support for policies allowing trans-identified athletes to play on sports teams that align with their stated gender identity as opposed to their biological sex continues to decline, as survey data shows nearly seven in 10 Americans oppose such rules. 

Gallup released the results of a survey documenting Americans' views on LGBT issues on Tuesday. The data included in the poll is based on responses collected from 1,003 American adults from May 1 to 18. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points. 

When asked if they thought that "transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on teams that match their birth gender," 69% of Americans answered in the affirmative. The overwhelming majority of Republicans (90%), as well as a majority of independents (72%) and a significant share of Democrats (41%), agreed with this view. 

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"Between 2021 and now, Democrats’ and independents’ levels of support for transgender athletes to play on sports teams that align with their current gender identity have both fallen by 10 points (to 45% and 23%, respectively), while Republicans’ support has not changed significantly," the analysis reads. 

While the percentage of Americans who believe athletes should have to play on sports teams that correspond with their biological sex remains unchanged from 2023, the share of respondents who took the opposite view declined from 26% two years ago to 24% now. When Gallup first asked this question in 2021, 34% of respondents supported letting trans-identified athletes on teams that align with their stated gender identity, and only 62% were opposed. 

The survey also showed a continued decline in support for the idea that changing one's gender is morally acceptable. Just 40% of U.S. adults held this position in 2025, down 4 points from last year. In 2021, 46% believed that it is morally acceptable for a person to change their gender. 

The declining view that changing one's gender is morally acceptable has been especially pronounced among Republicans in the past four years, consistently declining from 22% in 2021 to 15% in 2023 to 11% in 2024 to 9% in 2025. Meanwhile, among Democrats, the belief that changing genders is morally acceptable reached a high of 72% in 2024 before dropping slightly to 71% this year. When Gallup first asked this question of Democrats in 2021, just 67% saw no moral qualms with changing genders. 

Among independents, the belief that changing genders is morally acceptable has consistently dropped by a much smaller margin. While 48% of independents held this view in 2021, that number decreased to 46% for both 2023 and 2024 before reaching 45% this year. 

Thirty percent of respondents said they viewed "being transgender" as "something a person is born with," while 50% suggested that "factors such as upbringing and environment" play more of a role. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats considered gender dysphoria "something a person is born with," along with 29% of independents and 9% of Republicans. 

By contrast, only 29% of Democrats attributed a person's gender dysphoria to "factors such as upbringing and environment," along with 44% of independents and 76% of Republicans.

This year's survey marked the first time Gallup had asked Americans for their views about what causes gender dysphoria, although they only polled half of the sample for their thoughts on the matter. 

The other half of the sample was asked a question Gallup has been asking for a much longer time: whether they thought being gay or lesbian was "something a person is born with" or the result of "factors such as upbringing and environment."

The share of Americans who believe people are born gay or lesbian was measured at 45% in 2025, a decrease from the 49% who said the same in 2021. Meanwhile, 38% attributed homosexuality to a person's "upbringing and environment" in 2025, an increase from the 32% who held this view in 2019. 

Based on partisan affiliation, most Democrats (74%) saw identification as gay and lesbian as something a person is born with, along with a plurality of independents (45%) and a small minority of Republicans (21%). On the other hand, 12% of Democrats, 37% of independents and 62% of Republicans contended that homosexuality stems from "upbringing and environment."

The increased opposition to male trans-identified athletes participating in female-only competitions comes as 29 states have moved to require athletes to compete on teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their stated gender identity. 

Title IX concerns have been raised regarding the fairness for female athletes amid real-world examples of male trans-identified athletes winning championships and securing spots traditionally reserved for female athletes.

USA Powerlifting, which has enacted a policy requiring athletes to compete in competitions according to their biological sex, lists "increased body and muscle mass, bone density, bone structure, and connective tissue" as factors that give males an advantage over females in sports.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year outlining the administration's intention to withhold federal funds from schools that let male trans-identified athletes compete in women's sports. 

In February, the National Collegiate Athletics Association announced it will prohibit male trans-identified athletes from competing in women's sports, saying Trump's order provides "a clear, national standard."

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com