In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case that same-sex couples had the fundamental right to marriage in all states. There are currently 34 countries in the world where same-sex marriage is legal, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
But despite a movement to improve the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people around the world, there’s been a backlash in the U.S., with a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures so far in 2023 -- more than double that of all of 2022, CNN reports. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking 471 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. as of May 2.
Some of these laws, according to the ACLU, allow employers, businesses, and even hospitals to turn away LGBTQ Americans or refuse them equal treatment; restrict how and when LGBTQ people can be themselves; prohibit transgender people from using facilities like public bathrooms and locker rooms or from participating in school activities like sports; and force teachers to 'out' students and censor in-school discussions of LGBTQ people and issues.
The Movement Advancement Project, (MAP) an independent, nonprofit think tank that provides research, insight, and communications with the goal of equality and opportunity for all, tracks and scores over 50 different LGBTQ-related laws and policies in detail in all 50 states, D.C. and territories.
Less than half-- about 43% -- of LGBTQ Americans live in states with policies that, overall, protect their rights, according to MAP’s Equality Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality By State. Some 11% live in states with overall negative policies that restrict LGBTQ rights.
MAP reviews these policies and assigns a point value, then adds these scores to create a "policy tally" for each state. The policy tally is divided into categories (negative, low, fair, medium, and high) to provide a snapshot of the overall LGBTQ policy climate across the country.
The major categories of laws covered by MAP’s policy tally include:
Relationship and parental recognition
Nondiscrimination
Religious exemptions
LGBTQ youth
Health care
Criminal justice
Identity documents
Harmful or discriminatory policies earn negative points or point deductions, while LGBTQ-inclusive or protective laws earn positive points. States that have enacted a portion of a law, or where local laws provide some protection but do not cover the entire state, may have earned fractions of a point.
This list shows the states with the highest and lowest scores in MAP’s overall tally, and also includes the individual scores for those states' policies on sexual orientation (loosely defined as a person’s pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction) and gender identity (a person's deeply-felt inner sense of their own gender, including being male, female, or something else.)
Here are the 20 states with the highest scores for protecting LGBTQ rights, followed by the nine states with the worst scores.
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