Most Americans Say Lessons About Sexual Orientation, Gender Belong in the Classroom

Brooke Migdon for The Hill analyzed our latest public opinion survey which found that only 34% of American adults believe it is “never appropriate” to discuss same-sex romantic relationships in the classroom. In terms of the debate over parents’ rights, Republicans (79%) are significantly more likely than Democrats (31%) to say public schools are interfering “too much” with a parent’s right to determine what their children are taught. Further, Migdon highlights the study’s finding that Generation Z is the only generation in which a minority of respondents (48%) believe people spend too much of their time talking about gender.

Most Religious Americans Believe There Are Only Two Genders

Yonat Shimron for Religion News Service reports that about 80 anti-LGBTQ bills have passed across state legislatures this year, and 19 states now have laws limiting medical treatments for transgender youth (Louisiana may soon be the 20th). According to PRRI’s new study, while Republicans and white evangelicals are most likely to oppose teaching about gender identity in public schools, there is some consensus on sex education: A majority of Americans think it is appropriate for schools to provide comprehensive sex education beginning in middle school. PRRI’s latest study on the politics of gender, pronouns, and public education was also covered by NBC, Axios, The 19th, and Religion Dispatches.

Supreme Court Unexpectedly Upholds Provision Prohibiting Racial Gerrymandering

Nina Totenberg for NPR reports that in a shocking Supreme Court decision yesterday, the court determined that the congressional district drawn by Alabama’s Republican-dominated state legislature denied African American voters a reasonable chance to elect a second representative of their choice. Totenberg highlights that in Alabama where there are seven congressional seats, one in four voters is Black. By protecting the landmark 1965 VotingRights Act, this decision could be a catalyst for re-examining how congressional lines are drawn in areas with significant Black populations. Last fall, PRRI found that one of the top issues for Americans who planned to vote in the 2022 midterms was the health of our democracy.

How Pat Robertson Helped Create the Modern GOP

At CNN, Zachary B. Wolf examines Baptist televangelist Pat Robertson’s political legacy, which includes founding the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Coalition of America. Wolf quotes PRRI Founder and President Robert P. Jones, who described Robertson as a “key architect” of the road that led conservative white evangelicals out of the Democratic Party after the civil rights era. PRRI Public Fellow Leah Payne, Ph.D., told the Wall Street Journal’s Gareth Vipers, “Robertson did a lot to create what we now know as American conservatism and to mobilize the evangelical vote.”

“A searing, stirring outline of the historical and contemporary significance of white Christian nationalism.”

Kirkus Reviews has published the first review of PRRI Founder and President Robert P. Jones’ forthcoming book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future. Read the full review here.

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Read PRRI’s new report “The Politics of Gender, Pronouns, and Public Education” here.