12 Most LGBT Friendly States In America

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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.

12 Most LGBT Friendly States In America

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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.

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