{"id":154347,"date":"2025-06-03T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T08:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/154347\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T08:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T08:34:09","slug":"these-are-the-safest-states-for-gay-and-trans-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/154347\/","title":{"rendered":"These are the safest states for gay and trans people"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which states are the best and worst for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans to live and work? More and more, it’s a question of partisan politics. Here’s why.<\/p>\n

\"play\"<\/p>\n

See as rock climbers hang Transgender Pride flag in Yosemite<\/p>\n

Rock climbers unfurled a large Transgender Pride flag on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The National Park Service has since removed it.<\/p>\n

As Oklahoman legislators push to restrict trans rights and overturn the 2015 Supreme Court<\/a> decision legalizing gay marriage, Zane Eaves says his identity as a transgender<\/a> man has put a target on his back in his home state.<\/p>\n

One of 18,900 trans adults in Oklahoma, Eaves has received death threats as has his wife of 10 years and their two children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the hatred and political stuff going on\u201d are driving this Oklahoma lifer from the place he was born and raised, Eaves, 35, said. He has only crossed the state line three times in his life, but in recent weeks, he made the difficult decision to move his family<\/a> to North Carolina to be closer to friends and allies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am just trying to stay alive and keep my marriage,\u201d Eaves said.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma ranks 44th in the nation on a list released Monday<\/a> of the most and least welcoming states for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans.<\/p>\n

More and more, the question of where LGBTQ+ people feel safe<\/a> is one of blue vs. red<\/a>, according to advocacy group Out Leadership.<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>Find coverage for Pride 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ equality fell across the board for the third straight year, according to Out Leadership\u2019s State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index shared exclusively with USA TODAY. But the sharpest declines came in Republican-led states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While progressive strongholds championed supportive policies and protections, conservative states elected a slate of leaders who openly oppose gay and trans rights and sponsored an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBTQ+<\/a> legislation, Out Leadership CEO and founder Todd Sears said.<\/p>\n

So-called \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bills, religious exemptions and other legislation tanked the rankings of 19 red states in the Out Leadership index, according to Sears.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, the divide<\/a> between states that roll out the welcome mat and less hospitable parts of the country is wider than ever, he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The least and most welcoming LGBTQ+ states<\/p>\n

Each year for the last seven, Out Leadership has released the State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index to gauge the overall climate for gay and transgender people state by state, mapping out where they will face the most and the least discrimination and hardship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Out Leadership\u2019s index measures the impact of state government policies and prevalent attitudes about the LGBTQ+ community, weighing factors such as support for young people and families, health access and safety, political and religious attitudes, work environment and employment and nondiscrimination protections.<\/p>\n

The Northeast had six of the 10 highest-ranked states, while the Southeast had six of the lowest-ranked.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts, led by the nation\u2019s first openly lesbian governor, Democrat Maura Healey and New York, which guaranteed gender-affirming care<\/a> and LGBTQ+ refugee protections, tied for first place in this year\u2019s index, with Connecticut and New Jersey close behind.<\/p>\n

The least LGBTQ+ friendly<\/a> state was Arkansas, which ranked last for the third straight year. South Carolina, Louisiana, South Dakota and Alabama also received low scores.<\/p>\n

The states that had the largest gains in the index were Kentucky and Michigan, which Out Leadership attributed to \u201cpro-equality\u201d leadership from governors Andy Beshear and Gretchen Whitmer, both Democrats. The steepest declines were in Ohio, Florida and Utah, all led by Republican governors.<\/p>\n

Where are the safest places to live?<\/p>\n

The Out Leadership index was created as a LGBTQ+ inclusion reference guide for business leaders. But gay and trans people soon began using it to figure out where they should \u2013 and should not \u2013 live and work, never more so than now as rights rollbacks from the Trump administration and red statehouses hit close to home.<\/p>\n

Opposition to transgender rights was a central plank in Trump\u2019s presidential campaign and since taking office he has signed a series of executive orders recognizing only male and female genders, keeping trans athletes out of women\u2019s sports, banning trans people from serving in the military and restricting federal funding for gender-affirming care for trans people under age 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even states seen as safer for LGBTQ+ people have been navigating these edicts around trans athletes.\u00a0Trump threatened to cut federal funding to California if a trans girl competed in a state track and field event<\/a> held Saturday.<\/p>\n

AB Hernandez, a junior from Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County, shared first place in the high jump and triple jump and second in the long jump. She shared the awards podium with her cisgender competitors under a new rule drafted by state athletics officials days before the event to mollify critics.<\/p>\n

Republican-led states have been in the vanguard of anti-trans legislation, causing greater geographic polarization and prompting fears among LGBTQ+ residents, even those who live in liberal cities.<\/p>\n

Jordan McGuire, a 27-year-old gay man in North Dakota, said the years he spent living in the Deep South taught him about the repressive discrimination routinely faced by gay and genderqueer people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the same time, socially progressive cities in conservative states like Fargo and Grand Forks are no longer the safe havens they once were, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now that his fiancee is transitioning to female, the couple is exploring a move to a \u201csanctuary\u201d state that will be safer for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like five or 10 years ago, trans people were not under the same microscope they are now and that has definitely influenced our move,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cYeah, people were prejudiced but it wasn\u2019t a witch hunt. They weren\u2019t looking for people in bathrooms and schools. But now things are so polarized.\u201d<\/p>\n

That rising anxiety was captured in a post-election survey<\/a> from UCLA\u2019s Williams Institute which found that nearly half of transgender people had already fled unsupportive communities and nearly 1 in 4 were considering uprooting their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most frequently cited reasons for wanting to move were concerns about LGBTQ+ rights \u2013 76% \u2013 the sociopolitical climate \u2013 71% \u2013 anti-trans rhetoric and climate \u2013 60% \u2013 and anti-trans laws and policies \u2013 47%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ Americans on the move<\/p>\n

Interest in relocating to friendlier states is even higher today than it was after Trump\u2019s reelection, say nonprofit workers who aid trans and gender-diverse people relocate to more liberal states with broader protections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far in 2025, Rainbow Railroad in Canada has received more than 3,000 requests from LGBTQ+ people living in the United States, up more than 1,000% from the same time last year, according to communications director Timothy Chan.<\/p>\n

Nearly all requested international relocation support. For now, Rainbow Railroad can\u2019t aid Americans with resettlement services because of immigration restrictions, Chan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TRACTION has heard from a record number of people from states as far away as Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas with many of them reporting being threatened or feeling unsafe in their homes and neighborhoods, said Michael Woodward, the executive director of the trans-led organization in Washington state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trans and gender-diverse people historically face financial hardship due to systemic oppression and discrimination, and need assistance finding jobs and housing as well as with interstate moving expenses that can run tens of thousands, Woodward said.<\/p>\n

TRACTION used to get a few applications a week until Trump won a second term. In the two weeks following the election, \u201cwe received as many requests for assistance as we\u2019d received in the entire life of the project thus far,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the inauguration, TRACTION started getting three to five applications every day. With one employee and a handful of volunteers, his organization is struggling to keep up with demand, Woodward said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Which states are the best and worst for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans to live and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[743,7480,8182,8522,8530,5905,11672,65660,5763,6584,3577,18607,5179,6591,5487,457,8528,285,40240,65661,8523,5486,2861,11760,11771,10022,17775,4678,8183,11761,8181,8189,5598,5181,2739,49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-154347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-743","9":"tag-advocacy","10":"tag-court","11":"tag-discrimination","12":"tag-discrimination-u0026-identity-relations","13":"tag-identity","14":"tag-issues","15":"tag-lgbtq-pride","16":"tag-lgbtq","17":"tag-negative","18":"tag-of","19":"tag-oklahoma","20":"tag-overall","21":"tag-overall-negative","22":"tag-party","23":"tag-people","24":"tag-people-u0026-society","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-pride","27":"tag-pride-2025","28":"tag-relations","29":"tag-republican","30":"tag-republican-party","31":"tag-sensitive","32":"tag-sensitive-subjects","33":"tag-social","34":"tag-social-issues-u0026-advocacy","35":"tag-society","36":"tag-states","37":"tag-subjects","38":"tag-supreme","39":"tag-supreme-court-of-the-united-states","40":"tag-the","41":"tag-u0026","42":"tag-united","43":"tag-united-states","44":"tag-us","45":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}