Mutants in the United States

Mutants are a serious minority in the United States. While everyone has heard of them, the majority of the country has probably never actually met a mutant – and even fewer have met a mutant they know is a mutant. Less than 1% (.001%, to be exact) of the population would even test positive for the X-factor, and only 10% of those people (.0001% of the entire US population) would self-identify as mutants.

Mutants in America are, for most people, the subject of myths and urban legends, scary stories on the nightly news, a mystifying unknown with very little personal knowledge to temper the uncertain fear. Most of America doesn't understand what mutants really are or what they can do. On the other hand, it's also the rare person who's known mutant-related violence first hand or has any real personal reason to find them frightening.

In the media, mutants are just barely beginning to pop up as characters, and these characters tend to be the exaggerated or exoticized 'other'. News stories often focus around mutants and sensationalize their activities. It's not uncommon for politicians to tap into the natural fear of mutant violence and terrorism to win their point. The US is vaguely tolerant of mutant celebrities, but they are unlikely to ever achieve a truly pop-phenomenon status due to fear and mistrust. Being openly mutant is still viewed as a bad choice for those who want to be in the public eye or who aim to climb high on the corporate ladder.

Opinions vary across the country, but the majority of the US population is wary of mutants in a distant sort of way. They are content to leave well enough alone as long as they don't hit too close to home, but a recent violent incident in the news is likely to make more people think about having a complete list of mutants and restricting them in particular jobs. While the majority of the American population supports measures like mutant registration and sensitive positions, they are also more concerned about knowing who mutants are and what they can do than about stopping them through force or violence, and the truly anti-mutant groups are a smaller minority than the mutants themselves. The 'mutant problem' is something that must be solved, and opinions on how to solve it vary drastically.

Mutants and the Federal Government

With mandatory registration tainted by scandal and declared unconstitutional, and with a turnover in Congress following the assassination of President Roger Lowe in the fall of 2006, the federal government is taking a less aggressive stance against mutants. The laws that exist and the sorts of discussions that are taking place at the federal level are aimed primarily at identifying and controlling mutants. Discussions are framed in terms of the good of the US population as a whole rather than in terms of benefiting mutant-kind, and although there's a Senator or two who may be concerned with mutant rights, the vast majority considers mutantkind to present an unknown danger to ordinary citizens. Issues such as legislation concerning telepathy are presented not to protect telepaths, but to protect non-mutants from telepathic coercion. The federal government seeks to walk the thin line between gathering information – and thus providing protection - and respecting the civil rights of those mutants living in the US.

Mutants and State Governments

Individually, State governments have a good deal of leeway in how to apply individual mutant-based laws and what other laws to put on the books. Some interpret Sensitive Positions very strictly, while others (such as Hawaii) have legally designated mutants as a protected minority. New York State falls somewhere in the middle, with most of the mutant-based legislation coming at a more local level.