Advocacy Videos Promote Acceptance of Transgender Identity

Gynelle Sackie-Mensa (), Luana Firmino (), Erin Fletcher () and Seth Gitter ()
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Gynelle Sackie-Mensa: Towson University
Luana Firmino: Ground Media
Erin Fletcher: Ground Media
Seth Gitter: Department of Economics, Towson University

No 2026-01, Working Papers from Towson University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Americans hold contradictory views about transgender people, expressing support for freedom from discrimination in polls yet failing to support the passage of laws protecting those freedoms. This disconnect may be because the majority of Americans do not perceive these inequalities as having an impact. Polls show many Americans do not believe that transgender identity is a true or real identity, which is reinforced by stereotypical and exaggerated representation in media. Furthermore, a majority of Americans report not knowing a transgender person. As such, promoting and reinforcing the idea that transgender identity is real could be a necessary first step to increasing support for transgender rights in the United States. This paper tests whether an audiences’ belief that transgender identity is real can be influenced by an advocacy campaign designed to showcase authentic and joyful stories of transgender people through a randomized experiment of over 31,000 participants. Roughly two-thirds of the participants were shown a short advocacy video with the other third serving as a control group who watched placebo videos. We show that after watching the video, the treatment group’s belief that transgender identity is real was roughly 5% higher on a 10-point scale than the control group. The measured effect of the videos was of similar magnitude, even for those who believe transgender rights had gone too far or did not know a transgender person. These results suggest that advocacy videos can increase support for transgender rights, even among those who are less likely to support those rights.

Keywords: Transgender identity; Public opinion; Advocacy interventions; Randomized controlled experiment. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D83 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2026-03, Revised 2026-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-mid
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