States of Equality Scorecard

Are you a second class citizen in your own state? Review state by state comparisons of the score on equality and gay rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans.

STATES OF EQUALITY SCORECARD

The score indicates the number of Equality Goals that have been reached in that state. Each "YES" gives 1 point. Half a point is given for partial achievement of an Equality Goal. One of the seven Equality Goals (repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell") can only be achieved at the federal level. Therefore, at the state level, the maximum score is 6.

UPDATES:

On May 15, 2008 the California Supreme Court approved marriage equality for same sex couples. California become the first state to offer full equality to the LGBTQ population. But the federal government still does not recognize those marriages and does not allow to serve openly in the military. There is a ballot initiative on November 2008 to try to overturn this ruling. Everybody's support is critical.
In May 2008, the Florida legislature passed anti-bullying legislation (but it does not enumerate protected clasees)
In May 2008, Maryland become the 7th state with anti-bullying legislation that specifically protects youth because of their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression

Click on any heading to sort table. Highest possible score is 6.0.

STATE	SCORE	HATE CRIMES	NON DISCRIMINATION	MARRIAGE	GENDER	YOUTH	PARENTING
ALABAMA	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Some Jurisdictions
ALASKA	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Some Jurisdictions
ARIZONA	1.5	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
ARKANSAS	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
CALIFORNIA	6.0	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
COLORADO	3.0	YES	YES	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Second Parent Adoption
CONNECTICUT	4.5	YES	Only sexual orientation	Civil Unions	YES	Only sexual orientation	YES
DELAWARE	2.0	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	YES	NO	Some Jurisdictions
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	4.5	YES	YES	Domestic Partnerships	Amended certificate	Only sexual orientation	YES
FLORIDA	1.5	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	Amended certificate	No enumeration	NO
GEORGIA	1.5	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	Not tested
HAWAI'I	3.5	YES	Only sexual orientation	Domestic Reciprocal Beneficiaries	YES	NO	Some Jurisdictions
IDAHO	0.5	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	Not tested
ILLINOIS	3.5	Only sexual orientation	YES	NO	YES	NO	YES
INDIANA	1.5	NO	NO	NO	No gender in certificate	NO	Partial
IOWA	4.5	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	Some Jurisdictions
KANSAS	1.5	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
KENTUCKY	1.5	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
LOUISIANA	2.0	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	YES	NO	Some Jurisdictions
MAINE	4.0	Only sexual orientation	YES	Domestic Partnerships	Amended certificate	YES	Only Joint adoption
MARYLAND	3.5	YES	Only sexual orientation	NO	Amended certificate	YES	Some Jurisdictions
MASSACHUSETTS	4.0	Only sexual orientation	Only sexual orientation	YES	Amended certificate	Only sexual orientation	YES
MICHIGAN	1.5	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	Second Parent Adoption
MINNESOTA	4.0	YES	YES	NO	Decided by Court order	YES	Some Jurisdictions
MISSISSIPPI	0.5	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	NO
MISSOURI	2.0	YES	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
MONTANA	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Decided by Court order	NO	Not tested
NEBRASKA	2.0	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	YES	Policy Dept. Educ.	NO
NEVADA	2.5	Only sexual orientation	Only sexual orientation	NO	YES	NO	Some Jurisdictions
NEW HAMPSHIRE	2.5	Only sexual orientation	Only sexual orientation	Civil Unions	Amended certificate	NO	Some Jurisdictions
NEW JERSEY	5.0	YES	YES	Civil Unions	Amended certificate	YES	YES
NEW MEXICO	3.0	YES	YES	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Some Jurisdictions
NEW YORK	3.5	Only sexual orientation	Only sexual orientation	Recognizes marriages	YES	NO	YES
NORTH CAROLINA	1.5	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	Not tested
NORTH DAKOTA	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
OHIO	0.5	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	Not tested Joint Adoption
OKLAHOMA	1.5	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	Not tested
OREGON	4.0	YES	YES	Domestic Partnerships	Amended certificate	NO	YES
PENNSYLVANIA	2.0	YES	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Second Parent Adoption
RHODE ISLAND	2.5	Only sexual orientation	YES	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Some Jurisdictions
SOUTH CAROLINA	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
SOUTH DAKOTA	1.5	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	Not tested
TENNESSEE	1.0	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	NO	NO	Not tested
TEXAS	1.5	Only sexual orientation	NO	NO	Depends on Clerk	NO	Some Jurisdictions
UTAH	1.0	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO
VERMONT	5.0	YES	YES	Civil Unions	Amended certificate	YES	YES
VIRGINIA	1.5	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	Not tested
WASHINGTON	3.5	Only sexual orientation	YES	Domestic Partnerships	Amended certificate	Only sexual orientation	Some Jurisdictions
WEST VIRGINIA	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested
WISCONSIN	2.5	Only sexual orientation	Only sexual orientation	NO	Decided by Court order	Only sexual orientation	Not fully tested
WYOMING	1.0	NO	NO	NO	Amended certificate	NO	Not tested

Equality Gay Rights State by State ANALYSIS (50 states + District of Columbia):

Only one state (California) provides full equality to the LGBTQ population (but marriage rights are not recognized by the Federal Government and gays are banned to serve openly in the military).
Two other states (New Jersey, and Vermont) achieve 5 of the 6 Equality Goals.
However, half of the states satisfy none or just one of the 6 Equality Goals that are required to ensure that LGBTQ people have the same legal protections as everyone else.

Massachusetts scores only 4.0 despite that if offers marriage equality. This is because it falls short in transgender protections in hate crimes, non discrimination, anti-bullying, and providing new birth certificates.
Passing federal legislation on an Equality Goal would increase every state score by 1.

Check our LGBT directory of organizations working to achieve equality. Each organization is represented by a major donor explaining why he or she is so committed to the organization.

RESULTS FROM THE QUIZ

Equal and Gay Quiz Results The people who took the Equal and Gay Quiz, as a group had a tendency to understimate the actual score in their state by about 1 point out of 6 as the chart indicates.

So, the good news is that most states offer slightly more equality than the average person who took the test estimated. The bad news is that the state of equality in the United States is unacceptable with half of the states offering none or 1 of the six equal protections that all other citizens enjoy.

Keep up to date on how to reach legal equality faster by signing for our eQuality alerts (no spam!). Even better, register to have access to confidential information on this website (9 reasons to register!). Registration is free and your information is not given to anyone.

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CORRECTION

I was in error about the Florida anti-bullying bill.

Sen. M. Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale, had filed an amendment on the Senate floor that would have required anti-bullying policies to prohibit such behavior against specific categories of students. Those would have included sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, and national origin.

But after receiving indications that some senators might be unwilling to vote for the bill with that amendment, Dawson withdrew the amendment.

The bill that passed made no enumerations or protected categories.

Reply to Pia re: scores

According to my count: California 5.5, New Jersey 5.0, Vermont 5.0

Suggested Scorecard Updates

5 May 2008: Florida Senate passed anti-bullying bill including sexual orientation and gender. (reported by Andy Humm in Gay City News)
14 May 2008: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed anti-bullying bill including sexual orientation and gender.

Also, there are definitely counties in Georgia where second-parent adoptions are routinely approved.

I can't speak for other matters, but your chart is definitely in error with regard to birth certificates in Georgia.

After my surgery, my shiny new birth certificate was issued with the correct sex and name on it, and absolutely no indication that it has ever been changed. The original birth certificate was sealed, and that information can now only be accessed with an explicit court order.

It only took me about an hour at the Dept of Vital Records to get my new birth certificate, too. No legal petitions or judges or anything. Just a letter from my surgeon, and about $10 for a new certificate.

Also, Illinois will only update your birth certificate if your surgeon is licensed in the USA, so I know of lots of women that went to Thailand who can't update theirs. I'd downgrade them significantly for that, personally.

Vermont was upgraded from 4.5 to 5. So now there are indeed three states with a score of 5 or 5.5. Still no state has a perfect 6.

"Only two states (California and New Jersey) achieve 5 of the 6 Equality Goals."

Didn't Vermont score a five also?

thank you for taking the time to explain. for whatever reason i just didn't notice the EQUALITY GOALS column on the left until now. doh! sorry about that ... keep up the great work guys!

Please give Arkansas a tenth of a point raise in ranking, just for the encouragement. Eureka Springs is the ONLY municipality in the state to have a DPR, enacted by unanimous vote of the city council May 14, 2007. With no residency requirement, the DPR has attracted straight and gay couples from 10 other states and 35 cities within Arkansas. Largely symbolic, because it confers no rights/benefits (prohibited by state consitution, unfortunately), it may be recognized by some employers and insurance companies as proof of relationship. Plus, it has deep personal meaning for couples who cannot or choose not to marry. Sexual orientation is also included as a protected class in the city's hiring policy.

All of which is a far cry from equality. But for a resort town of 2300 smack in the Bible Belt, it's a start. For more information, see the DPR link and news stories on www.gaynewsbureau.com

Answering Joey's question: In Gender, the focus is the freedom of gender and the ability to change your gender. The main item that we look at is the birth certificate. Granted, most people go through life without looking at the birth certificate. But this is an important document in order to change other documents that are critical for day-to-day life. States treat birth certificates in three ways, which are representative of their understanding of the freedom of gender: (1) they provide a new certificate with the correct gender and name, without any indication about the prior gender or name, (2) they provide an amended certificate, which clearly indicates that changes were made, or (3) they refuse to change the birth certificate. Check the Freedom of Gender equality goal for more details.

In the youth column we look at anti-bullying/safe schools legislation. Some states do not have such legislation and others only cover sexual orientation. We look for legislation that clearly enumerates the categories covered instead of blanket statements. Check the Protect Youth equality goal for more details.

what are the categories "gender" and "youth" refering to?

As a transwoman living in NY state, I can assure you that I have no legal protection state wide. There are localities that protect gender expression, but state wide protection is definitely lacking. There are currently efforts to pass GENDA, a law that would extend protection to trans people, but even bringing that to the floor is difficult.

That being the case, I don't understand why the gender box is green for New York.

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Last Modified 2008-05-31