Trans friendly states
Map: Attacks on Gender Affirming Care by Express
In a coordinated press led by national anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups, legislators across the country have overridden the recommendations of the American medical establishment and introduced hundreds of bills that target transgender, neutrois and gender-expansive youth’s access to age-appropriate, medically necessary care.
This attack on healthcare care is relentless and constantly shifting. We’ve provided a snapshot of the assault against access to age-appropriate and medically necessary gender-affirming care in the United States.
39.4% of transgender youth exist in states that own passed bans on gender-affirming care
As reported by The Williams Institute, there are more than 300,000 high school-aged (ages 13-17) transgender youth in the United States today, many of whom need gender-affirming care.
As of July 2025, 40.1% or 120,400 transgender youth aged 13-17 are living in the 27 states that have passed bans on gender-affirming tend. This includes 2,300 youth living in the two states–Arkansas and Montana–where bans are currently on grasp or blocked from enforcement through court orders.
While our map focuses solely on hi
For gay and transsexual people, these are the most (and least) welcoming states
Each year for the last six, same-sex attracted advocacy group Out Leadership has produced an index gauging the business climate for gay and transgender people express by state, mapping out where they can live and work with the least discrimination and hardship.
Last year as anti-LGBTQ+ bills swarmed statehouses across the country, the average score for all 50 states dropped for the first time.
Todd Sears, Out Leadership’s founder and CEO, says he was not surprised when the average score fell again in 2024 as Republicans sharpened attacks on gay and transgender rights heading into the presidential election.
“It was just confirmation of what we have already seen unfortunately,” Sears told USA TODAY.
New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts remained at the top of the Out Direction index in 2024 while Arkansas received the lowest score since the index began.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.The average score across all 50 states was 62.77 out of 100, compared to 63.48 in 2023 and 64.61 in 2022.
State business rankings slip because of 'Don't Say Gay' and other bills
The largest decrease
State Equality Index 2024
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The Human Rights Campaign Declare Equality Index (SEI) is a comprehensive state-by-state record that provides a review of statewide laws and policies that affect Diverse people and their families.
The SEI rates all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. in six areas of law and assigns the states to one of four distinct categories.
Check your state's scorecard by texting SEI to 472472 from your mobile phone. (msg & data rates may apply. Text STOP to quit, HELP for info.)
State Categories
In these states, advocates focus on raising support for basic LGBTQ+ equality, such as non-discrimination protections in employment, housing and public accommodations. These states are most likely to have religious refusal or other anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Advocates often further LGBTQ equality by focusing on municipal protections for LGBTQ+ people or contradictory negative legislation that targets the LGBTQ+ community.
States in this category include:
Ala
Mapping Transgender Equality in the Joined States
The Bottom Line
The lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community has seen both significant progress and painful setbacks recently. The 2015 Supreme Court ruling in favor of the release to marry was a major step toward legal equality, and there contain been many successes since then at the federal, declare, and local levels, including increased protections for transgender and gender non-conforming people. However, since the ruling, there possess also been more than 200 anti-LGBT bills introduced in 20 states—and a recently leaked executive order draft suggests that the current administration intends to undermine established non-discrimination protections and uncover the door to a wide range of harms to the LGBT population.
To help make meaning of the current policy landscape in the states for LGBT people, and transgender people specifically, Mapping Transgender Equality in the Together States looks at legal equality for transgender people across the country. The gender identity tally is comprised of 25 state laws and policies in the five key categories of Non-Discrimination, LGBT Youth Laws and Policies, Health and Safe
United States LGBT Equality Index
Equality Index Methodology
Equaldex's Equality Index is a rating from 0 to 100 (with 100 being the most equal) to help visualize the legal rights and public attitudes towards Diverse (lesbian, gay, bisexual, gender non-conforming, queer, questioning, intersex...) people in each region. The Equality Index is an average of two indexes: the legal index and the public opinion Index.
Equality Index
Average of Legal Index and Public Opinion Index
Legal Index
The LGBT legal index measures the current legal status of 13 other issues ranging from the legal status of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, transgender rights, LGBT discrimination protections, LGBT censorship laws, and more. Each topic is weighted differently (for example, if same-sex marriage is illegal in a region, it would have a much bigger impact on the score than not allowing LGBT people to assist in the military). Each topic is assigned a "total possible score" and a "score" is assigned based the status of the law using a rating scale that ranges from 0% to 100% (for example, if homosexuality is legal, it would would receive a score of 100, but if it's illegal, it would receve a