Equality Maps
LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: March 2025
In this rapidly changing landscape, MAP’s LGBTQ Equality Maps provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of LGBTQ laws and policies in the United States. See below for a listing of state and local level policy changes, plus MAP policy research updates, as of March 11, 2025.
▸▸ State Policy Updates
*Note: this covers state-specific updates. For a recap of major Trump executive orders affecting the LGBTQ community so far, read more here.
Name change publication requirements
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- February 7: Illinois enacted a new law eliminating the publication requirement for name changes, a move that helps protect the privacy and safety of transgender people. The new law also reduced the residency requirement from six to three months, allowing faster access for those who have recently relocated to the state.
Bans on medical care for transgender youth
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here, including a chronology and details on effective dates, exceptions, lawsuits, and more.
There are now 27 states with a ban or restriction on medically necessary, prescribed health care for transgender youth. Now, 2 in 5 (40%) transgender youth live in states with these bans. However, lawsuits have been filed against the bans in 17 of these states.
- February 18: Kansas became the 27th state with a ban on best practice medical care for transgender youth, after the legislature overrode the governor’s third veto of such a bill in as many years. The new law also explicitly restricts state employees from “promoting” social transition for minors. Underlining the legislature’s priorities, it was the first bill that the Kansas legislature passed this year.
Medicaid coverage of transgender-related health benefits
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- February 18: The new Kansas law also bans Medicaid coverage of best practice medical care for transgender minors.
Regulating gender to allow discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
There are now 13 states with a law or governor-issued executive order regulating gender throughout state law. As a result, nearly 1 in 8 (12%) transgender people nationwide live under these policies.
- February 13: Alabama enacted a new law regulating gender by defining “sex” throughout state law to enable discrimination.
- February 28: Iowa enacted a broad sweeping and unprecedented law that, among its many provisions, also defined “sex” throughout all state law.
- March 4: Indiana’s governor signed an executive order to the same effect.
Nondiscrimination laws
See Equality Maps, as well as supporting citations, for each of the nondiscrimination policies MAP tracks: private employment nondiscrimination; public employment nondiscrimination; housing nondiscrimination; public accommodations nondiscrimination; credit and lending nondiscrimination; education nondiscrimination
- February 28: Iowa’s governor signed a law removing gender identity from the state’s nondiscrimination laws in private employment, public employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and lending, and education.
- Publicly available information suggests that at least 4% of LGBTQ people have moved to a new state due to anti-LGBTQ legislation in their home state. Applying that 4% rate to Iowa’s LGBTQ population suggests that roughly 4,500 adult LGBTQ Iowans may have already left the state, and this recent development will likely continue to have an impact on the state’s LGBTQ population.
- Currently, 21 states and D.C. list gender identity as a protected class in their nondiscrimination statutes. However, this action by the Iowa legislature will likely set a precedent, inspiring other states to also attempt to roll back existing protections.
Bans on gender marker changes on birth certificates
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- February 28: Iowa’s new law also contained a ban on updating gender markers on birth certificates, making Iowa the seventh state currently with a total ban.
Bans on transgender people’s use of bathrooms and facilities
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
There are now 16 states with a law or policy banning transgender people from using bathrooms according to their gender identity in various government-owned settings. Now, 1 in 4 (25%) transgender people nationwide live under some form of these policies.
- March 3: Wyoming enacted two new restroom bans, one applying to K-12 settings and the other applying to effectively all remaining government-owned buildings and spaces. This means Wyoming joins Florida and Utah with extremely wide-reaching bathroom bans.
Broad “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) exemptions
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- March 6: Wyoming enacted a RFRA, becoming the 28th state with such a law.
Changes in MAP’s Policy Tally categorizations
See our Overall, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity Policy Tally maps here, summarizing states’ scores across all the 50+ laws and policies we track.
- Iowa’s new discriminatory laws dropped Iowa to “Low” on our Overall Tally and to “Negative” on our Gender Identity Tally.
▸▸ Local Level Policy Updates
- February 19: Westerville, Ohio, became the 13th city in the state to ban conversion “therapy” practices at the local level.
▸▸ LGBTQ Bill Tracking Updates
To continue highlighting trends across the country, included below are our current bill tracking counts for anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures.
Note: these counts may differ from other organizations or public counts for a variety of reasons, and this work is greatly facilitated by the work of other organizations including the ACLU, Trans Formations Project, and the Equality Federation and their member state groups.
As of March 11, 2025, MAP is tracking over 575 anti-LGBTQ bills across 47 states.
▸▸ MAP Policy Research Updates
Amid a hostile anti-LGBTQ environment, MAP published a brief that lifts up our community’s strength and resistance: “Despite the Attacks Against Us, LGBTQ+ People Know How to Win.” It highlights, for example, how the movement has defeated ~92% of anti-LGBTQ bills each year over the last 15 years. The brief also details how we continue to create community and safe spaces, provide direct care for each other, and push forward.
Given the ongoing attacks on access to accurate identity documents, MAP published an updated version of our “Identity Documents & Transgender People” fact sheet. This fact sheet was drawn from our 2022 report The ID Divide: How Barriers to ID Impact Different Communities and Affect Us All.
MAP also revised the design of our Equality Maps for trans youth healthcare bans and trans healthcare “shield” laws. Our team improved the visual design to make the landscape easier to understand. For example, in the “Shield” Laws Equality Map, we now also offer two viewing options: one that includes bans on transgender youth medical care, and one without the bans on youth care, given that the shield laws also protect access to adult care.
