20th Anniversary Spotlight
History of MAP: Tracking Equality and Democracy Through State Policy
Across its 20-year history, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) has become a mainstay for funders, advocates, and policy experts. MAP’s combined offering of messaging research, movement capacity assessments, and policy analysis has established its reputation as a go-to resource for progressive movements.
What makes MAP especially unique is its policy expertise, which reflects a longstanding focus on legislation that affects LGBTQ people in this country. From inclusive policies and protections to harmful or discriminatory laws, MAP has built a comprehensive clearinghouse of data that evaluates equality — and more recently, democracy — at the state and local level. Presented visually through our Equality Maps and Democracy Maps, MAP’s scoring has been utilized in hundreds of policy research resources, including reports, briefs, infographics, and more.
In this second installment of our “History of MAP” series, we are highlighting MAP’s extensive collection of policy research — from its origins in the early 2000s to its most recent expansion through the Democracy Program.
MAP began as a small, independent think tank that aimed to strategically align resources in the movement to the areas of greatest impact with the goal of speeding equality for all. Soon after its founding, MAP expanded beyond its budding movement capacity work and began analyzing legislative trends affecting LGBTQ Americans.
In 2008, MAP launched its first website, which featured an early version of the Equality Maps. The site also became home to new policy research featuring important collaborations with movement partners, allied organizations, and politicians, as well as policy recommendations addressing the many aspects of LGBTQ people’s lives. For example, MAP’s Improving the Lives of LGBT Older Adults in 2010 addressed the unique challenges faced by elders, and — in conjunction with report partners SAGE, AARP, Center for American Progress (CAP), American Society on Aging, and Justice in Aging — the report’s launch event featured a keynote address from Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.
In 2011, MAP launched the All Children Matter report, which shaped the narrative about how antiquated and discriminatory laws fail and hurt children with LGBTQ parents. The report brought together a coalition of LGBTQ leaders, policy experts, and child advocates, including the Family Equality Council, the Center for American Progress (CAP), the National Association of Social Workers, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, and COLAGE — plus a foreword by the Child Welfare League of America.
By 2015, MAP had officially become its own 501(c)3 and launched its first major policy report, Mapping LGBT Equality in America.
This report explained the key gaps in legal equality for LGBTQ Americans and became the genesis for MAP’s Equality Maps. In fact, Mapping LGBT Equality in America was the first reference to MAP’s state policy tallies and offered the initial methodology for our state policy scores used today. The following year, Equality Maps data were included in an academic journal for the first time, initiating a decade of MAP research being used to link state policy to outcomes for LGBTQ people.
“MAP has the sober, objective analysis. Whether it’s good news or bad news, MAP will tell you what’s actually happening. I trust them to do the research, and to do the tracking and let me know the facts. That sounds like a small thing, but it is a very big deal in this extremely polarized political environment.”
— Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, The Trevor Project
Maintaining its reputation as a trusted source of analysis of the state of play in each state, MAP kicked off 2020 releasing its first retrospective report, Mapping LGBTQ Equality: 2010 to 2020. The report offered a fresh perspective on the status of LGBTQ equality, encompassing nearly 40 LGBTQ-related laws and policies across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five populated U.S. territories.
By the end of what many consider to be one of the most tumultuous years in modern history, MAP continued to meet the moment by analyzing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ communities, releasing a brief highlighting the importance of LGBTQ people participating in the Census, and providing an infographic detailing how the Biden Administration could immediately support LGBTQ people.
A year later, MAP expanded its policy focus to include elections and voting by launching the Democracy Maps. Tracking 44 laws and policies across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Democracy Maps mirrored the Equality Maps, providing in-depth policy scores by state, giving advocates, policymakers, and the public a clear understanding of the legislative landscape and the gaps in voter access across the U.S.
In 2022, in addition to various LGBTQ-related policy spotlights and calls for data inclusion, MAP continued to expand its Democracy Program, releasing several reports including How the Freedom to Vote Act Would Improve Democracy in the States, The 10 Policy Trends Transforming Voting & Elections in America, and multiple “State of Democracy” spotlights outlining the landscape for specific states. MAP also offered its first analysis of how states rank on voting and democracy compared to LGBTQ equality.
“A lot of democracy funders now understand that LGBTQ issues are the tip of the spear and by attacking our community, their attacking the fundamentals around democracy, freedom of speech, and the freedom to live our lives. That has been a pretty powerful connection.”
— Christopher Maggiano, MAP Board Chair
In recent years, MAP’s policy research has responded to the evolving political environment and attacks on diverse communities. In 2023, MAP launched a brand-new series, Under Fire, which uncovered the developing, coordinated anti-LGBTQ legislative trends across the country. In 2024, MAP released a variety of timely reports including Diverging Democracy: The Battle Over Key State Election Laws Since 2020, Beyond the Ballot: Understanding Post-Election Processes in America, and a first of its kind report, Dismantling DEI: A Coordinated Attack on American Values. Shortly after in 2025, a year defined by the Trump Administration’s efforts to specifically target transgender and nonbinary people, MAP produced a plethora of resources focused on LGBTQ youth, conversion “therapy” laws, health care, school facilities and sports participation, ID access, relocation, and other issues impacting the daily lives of LGBTQ people.
“I think what I’m most proud of is MAP’s ability over the years to read the room, to look at the community, to see what’s emerging, and to almost be a step ahead of where organizations and funders are.”
— Michael Fleming, David Bohnett Foundation
For decades, LGBTQ people have continued to move toward acceptance and inclusion in our society; however, in recent years, opponents have actively worked to undermine equality and dismantle democracy.
Following its longstanding commitment of meeting the moment, MAP’s body of policy research has explored the many aspects of LGBTQ people’s lives through interactive tools, in-depth reports, and more. Today, MAP’s timely analysis continues to inform the efforts of LGBTQ activists, policymakers, and supporters who are working to protect our freedoms.
▸▸ Learn more
- Read about our 20-year history by visiting our anniversary page.
- Explore MAP’s LGBTQ Program and Equality Maps here.
- Learn about MAP’s Democracy Program and the Democracy Maps here.
