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Religious beliefs have been associated with holding more conservative views on gender identity and substantial prejudice against transgender individuals. The Philippines is a country with a traditional view of gender roles and may have difficulty understanding and accepting transgender individuals. This study explored the association between religiosity and knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about transgender individuals among 626 religious, adult, cisgender, heterosexual Filipinos. We also examined the role of gender and age in this context. The analysis applied a structural equation model with latent interaction. The results showed a significant negative relationship between religiosity and transgender knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. No difference was found in the strength of this association across gender and age, although significant gender and age differences were observed on these constructs separately. Specifically, women reported higher religiousness and more favorable attitudes toward transgender individuals, whereas younger participants reported lower religious involvement and more positive attitudes toward transgender people. Religiosity and age explained a notable proportion of attitudes toward transgender individuals among women, while the explanatory power was more modest among men. These findings highlight the importance of considering religiosity as a possible contributing factor in explaining more conservative views on gender identity and prejudice against transgender individuals in Filipino communities.
Keywords: Filipinos, prejudice, religiosity, transgender people
Public opinion on accepting LGBTQ+ individuals in society remains significantly polarized by country, region, and economic development, despite significant improvements in legislation and norms around the world regarding same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights (Poushter & Kent, 2020). According to a recent Pew Research Center survey (2013), most Filipinos (76%) believed that society should accept homosexuality. However, local and national anti-discrimination laws still inadequately safeguard the rights of LGBTQ+ Filipinos (Reyes et al., 2019). This concern is further supported by the Psychological Association of the Philippines' (2020) statement, which declared that Filipinos who identify as LGBTQ+ are still subjected to stigma, prejudice, and discrimination in Philippine society.
Non-LGBTQ+ people often rely on their preexisting attitudes and beliefs about a stigmatized minority group (Herek & Capitanio, 1996), which influences their evaluations of those individuals who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. In the United States, negative attitudes held by cisgender heterosexuals were associated with religiosity (Norton & Herek, 2013). It was found that strict and traditional...