An Examination of Participation and Motivation in Social Movement Organizations Working Towards Trans Justice in the United States

Background & Purpose

In the past two decades, immense progress has been made at all levels to improve the health and wellbeing of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals and communities across the lifespan by addressing the root causes of disparities and inequities. Unfortunately, like many social movements throughout history have experienced, there is an active and powerful countermovement leading to backlash against and regression of previous TGD-inclusive progress as anti-TGD rhetoric gained control of the hegemonic discourse in the past few years. Social movement organizations (SMOs) play an important role in developing activists and advancing social movements. However, there is little known about who participates in advocacy organizations working towards TGD justice. The purpose of this study is to examine participation and motivation among individuals in the United States with advocacy organizations that work towards transgender justice.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey (N=954) was conducted in the fall of 2022 among those who are over the age of 18 years old, currently reside in the United States, and believe TGD individuals deserve equal rights were eligible to participate in the survey.

Results

First descriptive statistics were run on all variables, then two OLS regressions were run, the first examined demographic variables and social context variables, and the second added in the psycho-social motivations in order to better understand participation in SMOs.

In examining sociodemographics impact on social movement organization involvement, compared to nondisabled participants, those who were disabled (𝛃 = 0.52, p < .01) were more likely to be involved in SMOs. For income, compared to the lowest income earners, those in each higher income bracket (𝛃 = 0.83, p <= .001, 𝛃 = 0.57, p < .05, and 𝛃 = 1.08, p < .01, respectively) were more likely to be involved in social movement organizations. Lastly, as age increased (𝛃 = 0.03, p < .001) so did the likelihood for SMO involvement as well as political ideology (𝛃 = 0.96, p < .001), with those indicating more liberal views having a higher likelihood of SMO involvement.

Turning to the second model which added in the motivators, having a disability, political views, age, and being in the $100,000 - $149,999 income bracket all lost their significance, while being transgender gained significance (𝛃 = -0.57, p < .01), however, for having a lower likelihood of SMO involvement. Each motivator, political efficacy (𝛃 = 0.38, p < .001), political salience (𝛃 = 0.10, p <.001), and community connectedness (𝛃 = 0.34, p < .001)were all significant indicators of SMO involvement.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that the psycho-social motivators, political salience, political efficacy, and community connectedness are strong predictors of participation in advocacy organizations, along with certain income levels. For this study, being transgender, when accounting for motivators, was a negative predictor of SMO involvement. These findings can be helpful as advocacy organizations continue work to recruit, mobilize, and retain activists for TGD justice.