In this particular case, criminalizing misgendering would also run into First Amendment concerns. Forcing someone to use particular pronouns under threat of criminal penalty would be government-compelled speech, which our Constitution frowns upon.

The Newsweek survey results are disturbing, but we may be able to chalk some of it up to social desirability bias. People want to answer survey questions in a way that makes them look good. Asked the pronoun crime question in isolation and the abstract, some respondents may have responded affirmatively as a means to signal disapproval for misgendering people and support for transgender acceptance. Faced with a specific, real-world proposal to criminalize misgendering, perhaps (hopefully!) not quite so many people would be on board.

[Larry and I discussed that in our OTBP episode earlier today, briefly. Brown’s take is probably wise, and I did warn that the reliability of these results might be less than one would think. Social desirability bias can also be considered as virtue signaling on the cheap, and we see that often in polls. PPP used to do this on a regular basis, in fact — ask an outrageous question just to generate a clickbait result. — Ed]