Love is all around us, and if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (or straight for that matter), you will be interested to call one of the most LGBT friendly states in America home.
Love wins in all circumstances in life, and this day in age, people should have to still be fighting for their right to love. In June of 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. This history-making decision showed that the country is moving forward, but unfortunately not everyone is tolerant or accepting when it comes to same-sex marriage and LGBT individuals. Even after the Supreme Court ruling, some states, like Alabama for example, still refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The levels of acceptance change depending on where you are in America, and thankfully there are places that are welcoming and more accepting of all individuals.
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Finding the most LGBT friendly states in 2017 is not a tough task. For the most part, there are the states that just have a reputation for being more LGBT friendly and some that don’t. For instance, the best places to live for LGBT families probably won’t be located in the southern parts of the U.S. but rather in the northeast or out west. When it comes to worldviews, New York City, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and London rank among the most LGBT friendly cities in the world. Last year we researched that topic while making the list of the best cities for LGBT families. These cities are a great place for finding love, and the free LGBT youth dating sites and social networks we listed while ago can help a lot in that pursuit. Each year, the Advocate posts a fun list of the “queerest cities in America 2017” ranking cities by things like the number of gay rugby teams, LGBT centers, and lesbian bars. This year’s list consisted of Toledo, Atlanta, and St. Louis just to name a few. I’m sure some of the same cities on this list would also make it on a “gayest cities in America 2017″ list with no problem.
To come up with our list, we relied on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Pew Research Center as our main sources. The HRC has an interactive map that shows which states have the most laws and policies protecting LGBT people. Their map has three different categories for states’ stance; supports, partial support, and does not support. These protective laws cover topics like housing, employment, and education discrimination based on someone’s sexual orientation and anti-bullying, hate crimes, and public accommodation. Pretty much every state on our list has laws and policies in place to protect these topics. However, some differ as to whether they have full support or partial support for things like transgender healthcare and gender change on identification documents. We listed the number of these policies each state supports as well as the number in which they partially support. The more of these LGBT protective policies a state fully supports, the higher it is on our list.
Let’s get started with our list of most LGBT friendly states in America.
12. Maryland
Supports: 7
Partially Supports: 1
Maryland begins our list because it does not support laws and policies regarding sexual orientation discrimination in education. On top of this, the state only partially supports transgender healthcare, but this is still doing a lot more than other states in the U.S.
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11. New Jersey
Supports: 7
Partially Supports: 1
New Jersey is known to be a pretty LGBT friendly state for the most part. Their biggest flaw here is that they don’t support transgender healthcare, which means there is no ban in place on insurance exclusions for transgender healthcare. Jersey City, Asbury Park and Cape May are just of the few places here considered as great for LGBT families.
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10. Colorado
Supports: 7
Partially Supports: 2
We all know Colorado is progressive with their early push to legalize marijuana. It’s also most LGBT friendly states in America when it comes to state laws. They have policies in place to protect LGBT people in regards to housing, employment, hate crimes and a number of other topics. They also partially support transgender healthcare and gender change on I.D. documents.
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9. Massachusetts
Supports: 8
Partially Supports: 1
If we’re talking about cities, not many places could get LGBT friendlier than Provincetown. On the state level, they’re not doing too bad either when it comes to protective politics.
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8. Illinois
Supports: 8
Partially Supports: 1
Illinois either fully or partially supports all the topics the HRC considers as protective laws and policies for the LGBT population. They came in at number eight because they only partially support policies protecting transgender healthcare.
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7. Vermont
Supports: 8
Partially Supports: 1
Like we mentioned earlier, places in the northeast have always tended to be the friendlier and more welcoming areas for the LGBT community and Vermont is no exception. The only thing they are behind on right now is transgender healthcare, which they only partially support, but we won’t be surprised if that changes soon.>
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6. New York
Supports: 8
Partially Supports: 1
Even though New York is home to the city that many believe to be the most LGBT friendly city in the world, it doesn’t fall as number one on our list of most LGBT friendly states in America. This is because the state only partially supports laws and policies regarding hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Regardless, New York City is definitely the most welcoming city you will find.
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5. Connecticut
Supports: 9
Connecticut might be small, but the state supports all nine of the policies and laws the Human Rights Campaign considers as protective for LGBT people. You will notice from here on out in our list, the states are all in the same club as Connecticut with their stance on policies.
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4. Minnesota
Supports: 9
This one came as a bit of surprise (although a welcome one) to us, being in the midwest and all.In July 2017 the Department of Education in the state even voted to move forward with more protections for transgender children.
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3. Oregon
Supports: 9
Portland, Oregon usually pops on lists of the most LGBT friendly states in America in the U.S. and luckily the rest of the state is onboard. This all makes sense as the state has a reputation for being very liberal.
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2. Washington
Supports: 9
From Oregon, you can hop on up to Washington, where you’ll find similar policies when it comes to the LGBT community. Like Oregon, it is also one of the most socially liberal states in the country, so it’s no surprise that it’s such an LGBT friendly place.
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1. California
Supports: 9
Last, and unsurprisingly, on our list of most LGBT friendly states in America, we have California. As we mentioned earlier, the west coast and northeast are the most popular areas when it comes to supporting LGBT rights. With major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, it’s no surprise California found a spot on our list.
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