First Advisor

Lindsey Wilkinson

Date of Award

Fall 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Sociology and University Honors

Department

Sociology

Language

English

Abstract

Transgender-identifying individuals living within the US face significantly higher rates of discrimination and harassment compared to the general US population (James et al., 2016). Recently, there have been thousands of legislative measures introduced with the intent of limiting the rights of Transgender and other LGBTQ identifying individuals (Trans Legislation Tracker, 2024). Christian Americans are significantly more likely than irreligious Americans to be against various rights for Transgender people, such as the ability to participate in sports or use restrooms that correlate with their self-identified gender rather than their biological sex (Lipka and Tevington, 2022). Research indicates that recent anti-transgender legislative measures introduced in several states is in part driven by the large percentage of the US population that identifies as Protestant Christian (Lipka and Tevington, 2022). The majority of Christian-identifying Americans identify as Protestant as opposed to Catholic (Gallup, 2018), with nearly forty eight percent of the total US population practicing a Christian faith that falls under a branch of a Protestant denomination (Gallup, 2018).

The aim of this thesis is to gain an understanding of the viewpoints of Protestant Christian-identifying students at PSU and if they align with anti-transgender legislation being proposed in Oregon. Six PSU students who identify as Protestant Christian were interviewed to collect information of their viewpoints on two anti-transgender rights Oregon senate bills, OR HB4054 and OR HB4143. Qualitative coding was used to identify emergent themes within the students’ responses, including heavy credence in the idea of personal freedom and concerns over the implications the two bills may have if put into practice.

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