Equality Maps
LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: May 2024
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 state-level policy updates as of May 8, 2024.
▸▸ State Policy Updates
This section’s state-level policy changes are outlined below in the following categories: positive policy updates, negative policy updates, and developing news. Click each sub-header to view the policy area’s corresponding updates.
Positive Policy Updates
- Blocks and vetoes of transgender youth sports bans
- Veto of gender regulation bill that allows discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
- Vetoes and blocks on medical care bans for transgender youth
- Lawsuits filed against anti-transgender gender marker policies
- “Shield” or “refuge” laws protecting transgender health care
- Nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people
- Bans on conversion “therapy” for LGBTQ youth
- MAP’s sexual orientation policy categorization for Maryland moves to “High”
Negative Policy Updates
- Broad “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) exemptions
- Forced or encouraged outing of transgender youth in schools
- Regulating gender to allow discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
- Gender marker changes on driver’s licenses
Developing News
Blocks and vetoes of transgender youth sports bans
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here, including a chronology of laws and vetoes, a breakdown of grade applicability, and further analyses.
There are now 25 states that ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) transgender youth live in states with these bans.
- April 2: The governor of Wisconsin vetoed a school sports ban. This was the 12th veto of such a ban since these bills first emerged in 2020.
- April 16: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked West Virginia’s ban, ruling that it violates Title IX. The state has said it will appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court.
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Broad “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) exemptions
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- April 2: Iowa became the 27th state with a broad RFRA law. These laws allow individuals, businesses, and other organizations to seek exemptions from state laws, such as nondiscrimination laws, saying they conflict with their religious beliefs.
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Forced or encouraged outing of transgender youth in schools
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- April 8: Idaho enacted a new law allowing school and government employees to misgender and misname transgender people, including in school settings and even when parents have consented to their child using a different name or pronouns at school.
— The law also includes a provision effectively requiring the forced outing of transgender youth in schools.
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Regulating gender to allow discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- April 9: Idaho became the 8th state with a law or policy regulating gender by defining “sex” throughout state law.
— This government gender regulation has already been used in other states to stop gender marker changes on identity documents and allow for other attacks on transgender people’s lives.
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Veto of gender regulation bill that allows discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- April 16: In Arizona, the governor vetoed a gender regulation bill. This is the second veto of this type of bill, following Kansas in 2023.
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Vetoes and blocks on medical care bans 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 24 states with a ban or restriction on medically necessary, prescribed health care for transgender youth. Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) transgender youth live in states with these bans. However, lawsuits have been filed against the bans in 17 of these states.
- April 12: In Kansas, the governor vetoed a ban on medical care for transgender youth for a second time, almost a year to the day after her first veto of such a ban.
— The veto survived a legislative attempt to override it later in the month, after two Republicans voted to sustain the veto, warning about the dangers of government overreach and saying that “[t]hese decisions belong between the team of professionals and the parents.” - April 16: In Ohio, a court temporarily blocked the state’s legislative ban, which was set to go into effect a week later.
— This means that transgender youth will still be able to access prescription medication and other forms of non-surgical care. Because the governor issued a separate executive order earlier this year banning surgical care for transgender youth, that ban on surgery remains in place. The court order applies only to the legislation.
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Gender marker changes on driver’s licenses
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- In 2024, the Montana Department of Justice, which oversees the state’s driver’s license bureau, “quietly changed” its policy on driver’s license changes — following the state’s 2023 gender regulation law — and now only allows a gender marker change on a driver’s license if the person has amended their birth certificate.
However, the state has also banned any changes to birth certificates, so this policy could amount to a de facto ban on new updates to driver’s licenses, if the policy survives the lawsuit that has already been filed by the ACLU.
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Lawsuits filed against anti-transgender gender marker policies
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
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“Shield” or “refuge” laws protecting transgender health care
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- April 22: Maine became the 16th state (including D.C.) with a law or executive order protecting access to transgender-related health care. Maine is the 13th state (including D.C.) with legislation to this effect, and the first this year.
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Nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people
See our Equality Map and supporting citations at the links below.
- April 25: Maryland enacted an important new nondiscrimination law. While the state already had LGBTQ-inclusive protections in many key areas, this law clarifies, strengthens, and makes consistent those protections (and others including for race, disability, and religion) following a ‘troubling ruling’ from the state’s supreme court last year. In doing so, it also adds explicit LGBTQ protections to the state’s laws for nondiscrimination in:
— Private health insurance (see MAP’s Equality Map and fact sheet)
— Credit and lending (see MAP’s Equality Map and fact sheet)
— Jury service nondiscrimination laws (see MAP’s Equality Map and fact sheet)
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Bans on conversion “therapy” for LGBTQ youth
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- May 2: In Pennsylvania, five relevant state administrative boards adopted new policies that effectively prohibit the use of conversion “therapy.”
— This builds on the state’s 2022 executive order prohibiting the use of state funds for the practice and makes Pennsylvania the 24th state (including D.C.) to fully ban this dangerous and discredited practice.
Conversion “therapy” laws prohibit licensed mental health practitioners from subjecting LGBTQ minors to harmful conversion “therapy” practices that attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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Developing news
- April 29: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that North Carolina and West Virginia cannot exclude coverage of transgender-related medical care in their state-sponsored plans, such as for state employees and Medicaid. However, West Virginia has already stated they will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 4th Circuit covers Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, so this ruling may also have further implications beyond the states named in the suit.
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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.
- Maryland’s new nondiscrimination laws bring the state up to “High” on our Sexual Orientation Policy Tally. Maryland was already ranked at “High” on our Gender Identity and Overall Policy Tallies.
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▸▸ MAP’s LGBTQ Equality Bill Tracker
To continue highlighting trends across the country, included below are our current bill tracking counts for anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures.
Note that 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 and the Equality Federation and their member state groups.
As of May 1, 2024, the count of anti-LGBTQ bills so far in 2024 is:
- At least 510 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across at least 40 states.
- At least 40 bills redefining “sex” to enable discrimination against transgender people have been introduced across at least 20 states.
