According to Out Leadership’s annual LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index survey, a number of states in the U.S. are becoming less friendly toward LGBTQ+ people, putting themselves at an economic risk. Out Leadership is an organization linking LGBTQ+ people with firms around the world, and their survey tracks every state in the U.S. using a range of markers of policies, attitudes, and measurements relating to LGBTQ+ inclusion for issues like nondiscrimination laws, employment, and housing.
Each state is scored from 1 to 100 for how LGBTQ+ people experience living, working, building families and lives in each state. This year’s report found that over half of all states’ scores dropped and the country’s overall average score on LGBTQ+ equality dropped 1.14 points. This decline came following more than 500 anti-equality bills being introduced across 46 states during this legislative cycle.
Arkansas came in as the least LGBTQ-friendly state among all 50 surveyed, followed by South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Dakota. On the other hand, New York ranked highest among all states in the 2023 survey, with runners-up Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Colorado.
LGBTQ+ Equality Rankings Show Decrease in Scores for Some States
According to a report released by Out Leadership, some states in the United States have experienced a decrease in scores for LGBTQ+ equality. While the top-ranked states for LGBTQ+ equality maintained their strong scores, the lower-ranked states saw significant decreases in their scores. This polarization across the country reflects the political and cultural attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Florida, which has received national attention for its “Don’t Say Gay” law banning classroom instruction about sexual identity and gender orientation, ranked 33rd. Although that is far from the bottom, its score decreased from 53.43 in 2022 to 50.6 in 2023. It’s worth noting that Florida had a history of supporting LGBTQ+ rights before the recent legislation, so its ranking reflects that, according to Out Leadership’s founder and CEO Todd Sears.
The report highlights the growing number of anti-transgender laws, which have been proposed or enacted across the country, which may be responsible for declining scores in many states. Such laws often ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
Out Leadership reached out to officials in a number of states, including Florida and Arkansas, for comment about their rankings but didn’t receive responses.
The report also mentioned that states can pay a price for not being inclusive. One recent example of this is Disney’s decision not to build a planned $900 million Florida campus and shutting down its “Star Wars hotel” in Orlando this October.
Disney Scraps $1 Billion Investment Project in Florida Amidst Legal Tussle with State Leadership
Disney has decided to abandon its $1 billion investment project in Florida after facing legal issues with the state leadership, along with changing business conditions. In particular, the company opposed Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and has been in a legal tussle with the state leadership ever since. A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed that these issues were attributed to Disney’s decision to cancel the project.
Besides this, it is worth noting that LGBTQ+ individuals have an estimated purchasing power of $917 billion dollars in the U.S., and LGBTQ+ small businesses contribute approximately $1.7 trillion to the American economy each year. These figures were calculated in a meta-analysis by SCORE, which mentors small businesses.
According to a statement from SCORE’s spokesperson, “Major corporate employers want to locate to places where they can recruit the best talent, without having to worry about state and local laws hindering their overall business success.” Additionally, companies don’t want to be at odds with the business policies and practices of the state they operate in or feel attacked by them.
The spokesperson added, “It’s not just the economic piece, it’s the talent piece.” In other words, states that are not considered LGBTQ-friendly can suffer from losing valued workers who opt to leave.
