A new State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index shows the gap between the most and least welcoming places for LGBTQ+ people has grown dramatically over recent years—while the national average score continues to slide.
Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide, is looking back on its 10-year impact at a moment when a different map is taking shape: where LGBTQ+ people feel safe and welcomed is increasingly a ZIP-code question.
Today, that divide is wider than ever, according to the latest State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index from Out Leadership. The index suggests America’s acceptance of gay people has continued a steep decline. reversing many of the civil-rights advances that increased well-being and safety for LGBTQ+ residents.
The national average score in the index has fallen for four straight years, and the 10 highest-ranked states have held steady or improved while the lowest-ranked states have dipped—leaving less and less middle ground, according to Out Leadership founder and CEO Todd Sears.
On the index’s 100-point scale, the typical state now scores just 53.1 and 26 states fall below 60, Sears said.
When the index was first launched eight years ago. Sears said the goal was to make “issues that were still live but invisible” harder to ignore—including HIV criminalization. conversion therapy. and where state legislators actually stood. He said many people assumed the work was done after marriage equality passed, but “it wasn’t.”.
“What we’ve documented since is a genuine regression,” Sears said.
Over the last eight years, the index has been released each year to map where the 9% of U.S. adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual are least and most welcome. Created as an inclusion reference guide for business leaders. LGBTQ+ people and employers began consulting it to decide where they should—and should not—live and work.
For years, the index has measured factors tied to state government policies and prevalent attitudes, including support for young people and families, health access and safety, and nondiscrimination protections.
This year. Out Leadership added 12 new indicators to gauge the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ policies such as bathroom access restrictions. pronoun and name-use prohibitions. and restrictions on adult gender-affirming care. Sears said the additions came after the Supreme Court struck down state conversion therapy bans.
“For the last several years we simply weren’t capturing forces that were already hitting LGBTQ+ citizens and their families,” Sears said.
The changes affected the national numbers: the national average score fell five points to 60.63 out of 100, and the geography grew even more polarized.
The gap between the most welcoming state and the least widened. Massachusetts ranks highest at 93.85, while Arkansas ranks lowest at 28.06. Sears said the widening moved from a 55-point gap in 2019 to a 66-point gap.
“Something Americans had come to take for granted, that LGBTQ+ people exist and deserve civil rights, has been thrown back into question,” Sears said.
Out Leadership’s new criteria shifted rankings in two directions at once. California rose in the rankings for its leadership in pro-LGBTQ+ policy, and Illinois gained ground for providing protections for access to gender-affirming care, among other measures.
But the new indicators also dragged down states facing bathroom bans, health-care restrictions, and other measures. Florida was pummeled by consideration of those factors, and Texas slipped because of anti-trans legislation.
The impact was not limited to states that lawmakers have targeted with rollbacks. Even states considered LGBTQ+ friendly fell in the rankings, Sears said. Maine declined because the new indicators rewarded states that enacted protections that it has not.
South Dakota gained five positions, Sears said, because it has not adopted much of the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that other states have.
Sears described the overall picture bluntly: “Half of America is increasingly unfriendly to the LGBTQ+ population. ‘The math shows it,’ he said.”
The latest index comes as broader measures show public attitudes shifting as well. From Pride parades to the federal legalization of same-sex marriage. acceptance of gay people had been on a steady march for decades. Bias against gay people declined from 2007 to 2020 and was on track to disappear altogether. according to a 2022 study by Tessa Charlesworth. an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji.
Then, in the early 2020s, the trend reversed. Anti-gay bias jumped 10 points from 2021 to 2024. By Gallup’s measure. acceptance of LGBTQ people—at an all-time high four years ago—has fallen every year since as public approval of LGBTQ+ legal protections recedes and transgender rights becomes a culture-war flashpoint.
The political shift is spilling into corporate life. Despite a track record of backing the nation’s LGBTQ+ population. Sears said the supportive corporate world shrank Pride Month budgets. flashed fewer rainbow flags. and downplayed solidarity amid the “go woke go broke” backlash against Target and Bud Light. along with pressure from activists to roll back LGBTQ+ commitments.
Charlesworth’s research points to bias rising across many states since 2020. Nearly two-thirds of states have seen an increase in implicit bias toward gay people—automatic judgments made about others based on sexual orientation—and three-quarters have seen an increase in explicit bias. described as attitudes. prejudices. or stereotypes formed at a conscious level.
“Geography certainly plays a role in the overall amount of bias towards gay, lesbian and trans people,” Charlesworth told USA TODAY. “There are systematic patterns across places that shape where is more tolerant and accepting versus more hostile.”
Sears added that even socially progressive cities in conservative states are no longer as safe or welcoming. Surveys, he said, show many LGBTQ+ residents in red states have considered uprooting their lives or already have fled.
When asked about what comes next for companies, Sears said businesses are likely to feel the change soon. “Over the next 12 to 18 months companies are going to feel this, and many already are,” he said. “There’s a talent flight underway. LGBTQ people are leaving anti-LGBTQ states. families of trans. non-binary. and gay young people are relocating and employees are going back into the closet.”.
He said the cost is not just staffing, but how people show up at work. “Whatever someone is hiding at work, they’re not bringing their full self and they’re not bringing everything they could to the company. That’s why the economic impact will be felt for a long time.”
At the top of the index, the five highest-ranking states are Massachusetts (93.85), New York (93.55), Connecticut (91.46), Illinois (91.27), and California (90.11).
At the bottom, the five lowest-ranking states are Arkansas (28.06), Tennessee (30.63), South Carolina (31.34), Idaho (32.23), and Florida (33.25).
The index’s message lands with a sharp edge: even as same-sex marriage became law a decade ago, the practical reality for LGBTQ+ Americans is being redrawn—state by state, and increasingly, year by year.
LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index Out Leadership Todd Sears LGBTQ rights gay marriage 10 years later state rankings Massachusetts Arkansas anti-LGBTQ policies gender-affirming care workplace impact
ZIP-code question?? So it’s basically like the stores are open or not? Idk.
I don’t believe “acceptance” is going down like that. Maybe people are just more vocal now. Also business climate index sounds like corporate PR to me.
Wait, Obergefell is involved again? So are they saying the Supreme Court marriage ruling is being reversed at the state level or what? Cuz that’s what it sounds like to me, like 10 years later it’s worse.
Honestly I’m not surprised. My cousin moved to one of those “top” states and still had issues finding a job, so how is this index measuring anything real. And if the national average is sliding for four years… maybe it’s just because people are getting more mad in general, not specifically LGBTQ. But whatever, the fact it’s “less middle ground” is depressing.