These American states have a bad reputation for LGBTQ travelers

You're driving through the United States and you're queer. By crossing a state border, you may find yourself at more risk (or less comfortable) than you were a few miles ago. It's good to know the variety of LGBTQ laws and cultural tendencies in American states when you prepare for your road trip.

In the Spartacus Gay Travel Index for the USA, 50 American states have been ranked based on their LGBTQ rights legislation and other factors that could make life more or less difficult for people who are not heterosexual. Its map colors the states from green (most welcoming) to red (most hostile), just like a traffic light.

Image: spartacus.gayguide.travel

The Spartacus Gay Travel Index colors quite a few American states orange or red. These areas are less safe and comfortable for LGBTQ travelers to visit, Spartacus indicates.

Among other things, the Index looks at censorship laws concerning LGBTQ school materials and books; the possibility of protection through hate crime laws in each state; and the number of violent crimes committed against LGBTQ people in the past year. It gives and takes away points for each of these factors, leading to a scale from 14 to minus 6 in the U.S.

The scores for several states have gone down since the Trump presidency, as they have introduced censorship of LGBTQ reading materials, laws against gender-affirming health care for transgender people, and prohibitions of drag performances, for example. CNN reports that a "record number of anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in 2023." And then there are still four more years of a Trump presidency to go.

Florida has been one of the visible examples of this recent trend. It is among the bottom ten states in the Spartacus Gay Travel Index. Examples of its anti-LGBTQ legislation are the 'Don't Say Gay' law for schools and its ban on school books about LGBTQ topics. The score for Florida is minus 2.

North Carolina also scored -2 in the Spartacus Index. It recently passed laws to censor the school curriculum and prohibit trans students from participating in sports teams of their gender identity.

Just like Florida and North Carolina, the state of North Dakota scored -2 in the Spartacus Travel Index. In April 2023, the state advanced a "record-setting 10 anti-LGBTQ bills in one day," the organization Human Rights Campaign told NBC. They included the prohibitions of drag performances and transgender-related health care for young people.

Bordering state South Dakota also has a score of -2. It stands out among the bottom ten for its permission of 'conversion therapy,' a pseudoscientific practice trying to make LGBTQ people straight.

The sixth-lowest country in the Spartacus ranking is West Virginia with a score of minus 3. It allows conversion therapy, like South Dakota, but it also has a lower score for 'Hostile Locals,' meaning that there has been more violent crime against gay people in the state.

Further below zero is Alabama with -4. The state has a 'Don't Say Gay' law that is similar to Florida's. Legislators are trying to expand that law in 2024 with a ban on Pride flags and conversations about LGBTQ issues in all K-12 grades, AP reports.

At the same level as Alabama is the neighboring state of Mississippi. Its minus-4 score is based, among other things, on censorship, conversion therapy, and 'hostile locals'.

Photo: David / Pixabay

Tennessee was the first state in 2023 to ban drag shows. Its Senate passed a bill to limit 'adult cabaret performances' in public "so as to shield them from the view of children," CNN reported. Along with Alabama and Mississippi, Tennessee scores -4 points.

The second-lowest score in the US is that of Montana. You may not realize it, but the Big Sky Country has a worse track record than the southern states we mentioned. Its total score is -5 with low numbers across the board. One of its remarkable recent initiatives is the obligation to identify people as male or female at birth - something that cannot be changed - since 2023.

And then we get to the state with the lowest score in the US: Oklahoma with minus 6 points. It performs particularly badly when it comes to censorship of LGBTQ visibility in schools and public places, the Spartacus Index suggests.

Oklahoma may not be a surprising bottom state in the Spartacus Travel Index if we take into account the shocking death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict in February 2024. The nonbinary student and a transgender friend were attacked by fellow students at Owasso High School in Oklahoma. Benedict died of the injuries the next day. As CNN reports, crisis calls from distressed LGBTQ youth in Oklahoma, thinking about taking their lives for fear of bullying, increased by 238% in the weeks after Benedict's death.

Image: GoFundMe

To put the low scores of the bottom states in an international perspective, Oklahoma has the same score in the Spartacus Index as the countries of Armenia, Benin, Georgia (in Eastern Europe), Mali, and Sri Lanka.

Much lower are the scores of the global bottom countries though, with minus 21 for Saudi Arabia and Iran, minus 18 for Uganda, and minus 17 for Russia.

Image: Rafael Ishkhanyan / Unsplash

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