Legislating Gender Identity

• In Event: Opposition in Action

Abstract

Gender identity has emerged as one of the most contentious political issues as advocates push for great recognition of gender minorities. We propose a study that examines bill sponsorship in the U.S. Congress people related to gender identity. We hypothesize that Democrats will be more likely than Republicans to sponsor bills inclusive of gender identity while Republicans will be more likely to sponsor bill that use a more restrictive definition of gender. This project, along with the extant research, will show how the issue of equality for gender minorities splits the two major parties in Congress.

Authors

• Matthew Mendez, California State University, Long Beach

• Sara Angevine, Whittier College