More than half of Americans believe it is not a moral issue to identify with a gender different than the sex they were born with, LifeWay Research has found.
Furthermore, 54% see nothing wrong with having surgery or using hormones to alter one's biological gender, the Nashville-based evangelical research firm revealed.
With America divided over its transgender bathroom laws, this finding gave insight to what majority of the American think about the issue.
"A majority of Americans reject the view of a creator giving them a gender that shouldn't be changed," said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research.
"We freely change many things about ourselves—we have cosmetic surgery, we use teeth whitener, we dye our hair, we get tattoos. Many Americans view gender as one more thing on that list," he observed.
The study found that majority of people with evangelical beliefs have deemed it morally wrong, with 61% claiming it wrong to change birth gender through surgery or hormones.
However, evangelical Christians are clearly a minority opinion on this issue, remarks McConnell.
The research showed that those who are acquainted with a transgender in their life are less likely to call it morally wrong.