Catholic pundit responds to 'flawed' Gallup poll on transgender issues

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 27, 2021 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

Bill Donohue, the head of an organization dedicated to responding to public slanders against the Church, claimed on Wednesday that a recent Gallup poll on transgender issues contained deceptive questioning.

“If most Americans today are not in favor of allowing biological males to compete against biological females in sports, isn’t it likely that an even higher percentage would oppose them showering together?” Donohue, president of the Catholic League, wrote in a May 26 press release. 

“Why didn’t Gallup ask this question?” he wrote.

Donohue’s response is to a May 26 Gallup poll which asks Americans questions about both transgender military service and transgender participation in sports.

In the survey, most Americans said that people who identify as transgender should be able to serve in the military. A majority also said those who identify as transgender should not be able to compete in a sport designated for the opposite sex. 

He noted that although 62% of Americans think transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their sex, Gallup left out a major piece of the question. 

“Gallup did not ask about the privacy issue,” Donohue wrote, “namely, whether biological males who consider themselves to be female should have the right to use the same bathroom and shower facilities as females.” 

Because showering in locker rooms is a common practice in sports, Donohue criticized Gallup for leaving the question out, which he held would greatly affect the answers in the poll. 

Donohue wrote that the previous Gallup polls on the restroom issue, taken in 2016 and 2017, showed that most Americans do not agree that those of one sex should be allowed to use the same public restroom of those who belong to the opposite sex.

Donohue challenged Gallup’s line of questioning in the 2016 and 2017 bathroom polls as well.  

“For example, why didn’t it ask respondents whether they approve of those in grades K-12 using the same bathroom and shower facilities of those who belong to the opposite sex? Is there not a profound difference between adults using the same public restrooms as those of the other opposite sex, and boys and girls using the same school bathrooms and shower facilities?”

“Second,” he added, “if most Americans today are not in favor of allowing biological males to compete against biological females in sports, isn’t it likely that an even higher percentage would oppose them showering together?”