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LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: September 2021

Movement Advancement Project
3 min readSep 9, 2021

MAP’s interactive LGBTQ Equality Maps provide a comprehensive look at the current state of laws and policies impacting LGBTQ people across the United States. The Equality Maps offer a state-by-state comparison of the policy landscape and gaps in protections for LGBTQ people across the country.

To keep you informed on this regularly changing landscape, here are the updates as of September 2021.

Important Updates in the States

Advances in Local Communities to Prohibit Discrimination

Local cities and communities continue to make advances in securing vital nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.

Comprehensive local-level nondiscrimination ordinances were passed in:

  • Athens, Georgia: the first municipality in the state to pass an ordinance in 2021
  • Winston-Salem, North Carolina: this ordinance creates new protections in employment and public accommodations for sexual orientation, gender identity, and more (Winston-Salem added sexual orientation and gender identity protections in housing earlier this year)

Partial nondiscrimination ordinances were also passed in several North Carolina municipalities:

  • Charlotte: sexual orientation and gender identity protections in employment and public accommodations but not housing
  • Chatham County: sexual orientation and gender identity protections in employment and public accommodations but not housing
  • Wilmington: sexual orientation and gender identity protections in public accommodations only

Local-level bans on conversion “therapy” were passed in:

MAP Updates

ICYMI: New Equality Maps

We’ve added several new Equality Maps this year:

New MAP Blog Post: LGBTQ Data Collection by the U.S. Census

For the first time ever, the U.S. Census Bureau included questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the Household Pulse Survey. With data collected and released every two weeks, the survey is designed to provide quick information about how people in the United States are weathering the pandemic.

When the first phase of data including SOGI questions was released, MAP published a blog post highlighting topline findings. As expected and as shown in other research, LGBTQ people are being hit harder by the pandemic — from job loss and food insecurity to housing insecurity and mental health challenges. These results are consistent with the data in MAP’s December 2020 report, The Disproportionate Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTQ Households in the U.S.

While these Census Bureau pulse survey data reveal the struggles facing LGBTQ people across the country, the data release itself is an exciting moment: it highlights the power and importance of asking questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in federal surveys and opens the door for continued advocacy for inclusive data collection.

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Movement Advancement Project

MAP is an independent, nonprofit think tank that provides rigorous research, insight and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all.