Abstract

This study focuses on the political participation of gender non-conforming and transgender people. It addresses a critical gap in the political science literature. Political participation as a general topic of study has been highly researched, but not certain aspects of it, specifically the gender identities of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, and how that intersects with political participation. The topic will be addressed by asking if transgender and gender non-conforming gender identities matter when thinking about levels of political participation. The study addresses this topic by surveying a group of college students, including all gender identities, asking them questions about their political participation, and trying to gain insight into what levels of political participation they have, and why. The study hypothesizes that if a transgender or gender non-conforming individual is out, they are more likely to participate in public forms of participation rather than private forms. The study also hypothesizes that when there is the politicization of gender identities, heightened emotions due to that will make it more likely that individuals will participate politically. The implications of this are that because there has been a rising level of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the past years, there is a strong motivation for gender non-conforming and transgender people to be active and fight for legislation that does not harm them as individuals expressing their identity freely. I found in the study that being out does not have a significant impact on what forms of political participation an individual will do. I also found that emotions, specifically anger, about the politicization of gender identity have a significant impact on whether an individual is likely to participate politically.

Advisor

Leiby, Michele

Department

Political Science; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Disciplines

Comparative Politics

Publication Date

2025

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2025 Teagan M. McCullough