These states have made progress in legal protections of the LGBTQ+ community: See maps

Last year, over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Eighty four of those bills became laws.

In 2024 alone, more than 475 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed.

The Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a nonprofit think tank, provides up-to-date information on the status of more than 50 LGBTQ-related laws and policies. These laws shape the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay and transgender Americans, according to MAP.

Of the many policies MAP tracks, USA TODAY looked at three laws pertaining to LGBTQ youth, health care coverage and criminal justice. These laws provide a snapshot of LGBTQ equality at the state level.

See map:For gay and transgender people, these are the most (and least) welcoming states

Laws protecting access to health care insurance

According to MAP, nondiscrimination insurance laws protect the LGBTQ community from being denied health insurance coverage for some procedures related to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Bans on transgender exclusions in health insurance are "policies that bar health insurers from explicitly refusing to cover transgender-related health care benefits," MAP reported.

Some states have passed laws to protect insurance coverage of gender-affirming treatment for LGBTQ+ people.

According to previous reporting from USA TODAY, gender-affirming care includes everything from talk therapy to hormone therapy to (in rare instances) surgical intervention.

Twenty-four states prohibit health insurance companies from excluding trans people from accessing certain coverage.

Hate crime laws that include gender identity and sexual orientation

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act altered the federal hate crime law to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.  

State hate crime laws allow persecution of crimes that may not fall under federal jurisdiction.

Twenty-two states have laws that cover gender identity and sexual orientation in the hate crime statue. These state laws allow for state or local prosecution of hate crimes.

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Laws protecting LGBTQ youth

According to previous reporting from USA TODAY, conversion therapy is the practice of trying to alter somebody’s same-sex orientation through counseling. The practice has long been discredited by major mental health organizations, including the APA, as it is based on the false premise that same-sex attraction is a mental disorder.

LGBTQ youth who were subjected to conversion therapy were more than two times as likely to have attempted suicide and more likely to have had multiple suicide attempts in the past year, according to a 2020 report by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention nonprofit.

Last year Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a law banning conversion therapy for minors in the state. Another 22 states and Washington, DC have passed bans on conversion therapy.

Which states have made progress in their legal protections of the LGBTQ community?

Gay advocacy group Out Leadership produced an index gauging the business climate for gay and transgender people.

States that made the greatest gains in the 2024 index were Michigan, Georgia and Oregon, which adopted pro-LGBTQ+ legislation and where elected officials spoke out on LGBTQ+ rights. 

Kat Rohn, the executive director of Out Front Minnesota said the recent 2023-2024 legislative session was the most consequential session since 2013 when Minnesota passed its marriage equality act.

Last year Minnesota passed its landmark trans refuge bill. This bill protects transgender people, their families and health care providers from legal repercussions if they travel out of state to Minnesota for gender affirming care. Rohn said the conversion therapy ban was almost a decade long project of community advocates.

Minnesota's trans refugee bill was just one of many laws passed by the legislature that expand protections of the LGBTQ community, said Rohn.

Contributing: Orlando Mayorquin, Jessica Guynn and David Oliver