HRC releases State Equality Index

(Washington) The success of the marriage equality movement masks a stark and persistent reality: a patchwork of non-discrimination laws state-to-state has left millions of LGBT Americans - including those who can legally marry - without reliable workplace protections, according to a report released today by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization.

HRC’s first State Equality Index (SEI), issued in partnership with the Equality Federation, also reveals that in many states opponents of equality are ramping up efforts to sanction discrimination against LGBT people by passing state-level laws that would undermine minimal existing protections, erode marital rights of legally-joined same-sex couples, and limit the ability of cities and towns to pass their own inclusive laws.

“Despite historic progress on issues like marriage equality, a majority of states still struggle to reach even a basic level of equality for LGBT people,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Most states lack statewide non-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people - putting countless individuals and families at risk, and creating inequalities in adoption and surrogacy, employments benefits, and youth safety and well-being.”

“Even worse,” Griffin said, “equality opponents continue to push deeply harmful laws forward, including those seeking to undermine critical protections in the guise of “religious liberty.”

Though same-sex marriage is legal in 36 states and Washington, D.C., more than 111 million people - 35 percent of Americans - live in marriage states that lack explicit, fully-inclusive statewide workplace protections for LGBT people.

And more than 206 million people - 65 percent of Americans - live in states where LGBT people have no explicit statewide workplace protections that include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The report points to a few encouraging signs, particularly in the area of LGBT youth, and health and safety. Legislators in Hawaii are among those pursuing more robust school anti-bullying  laws; those in states including Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts are considering bans on dangerous and medically-debunked “conversion therapy.” Several states are also working on policies that would lead to more fully inclusive healthcare for transgender people.

"Leaders in every state are making enormous progress to ensure equality for all, yet there remains a patchwork of non-discrimination laws and policies that leave many of  us and our families surprisingly vulnerable to unfair treatment,” said Rebecca Isaacs, executive director of Equality Federation Institute. “I know we can do better so that all Americans have the freedom to be our authentic ourselves."

The SEI assesses statewide LGBT-related legislation and policies, good and bad, in six areas: relationship recognition, parenting laws and policies, non-discrimination laws, hate crimes laws, youth-related laws and policies, and health and safety laws and policies. Based on that review, the SEI assigns states to one of four distinct categories.

The highest-rated category is “Working Toward Innovative Equality.” Seven states and the District of Columbia fall in this category.

Seven states are in the category “Solidifying Equality.” They have marriage equality and non-discrimination protections, and are considered high-performing but not cutting edge on LGBT equality.

Seven states are in the category “Building Equality.” They have marriage equality and have taken steps toward more robust LGBT equality, including passing basic non-discrimination and hate crimes laws.

Twenty-nine states are in the lowest-rated category “High Priority to Achieve Basic Equality.” Most of these states have many laws that undermine LGBT equality, from those that criminalize HIV and sodomy, to measures allowing religious-based discrimination against LGBT people. A handful of states have court-ordered marriage equality; none have non-discrimination laws that explicitly include sexual orientation or gender identity protections; few have hate crime laws. LGBT advocates largely work to kill bad bills and pass municipal protections for LGBT people.

In The Gayly’s area (Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas) none of the states have LGBT anti-discrimination protections, only Oklahoma has marriage equality across the entire state, and Kansas and Missouri have marriage in parts of the states. In all states but Oklahoma there are ongoing court battles to make marriage equality legal across the state.  All five states fall into the lowest category in the HRC report

The full report, including detailed scorecards for every state, as well as a comprehensive review of 2014 state legislation, is available online at www.hrc.org/sei.

Staff Report.

The Gayly – January 25, 2015 @ 4:10pm.