Get @reshare_app • @pinknews A new ranking has named the five US states where life is hardest for LGBTQ+ people, and warns that conditions in those states are deteriorating year on year.
The findings come from the eighth annual State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index, which tracks how inclusive each state is from the perspective of business leaders.
Now in its eighth year, the index has logged a fourth consecutive year of falling support for LGBTQ+ people nationally.
It is compiled by OutLeadership, a network focused on LGBTQ+ inclusion in the corporate world, and scores states out of 100 across five areas: legal protections, support for families, political and religious climate, healthcare and employment.
According to the index, the worst states in the US for LGBTQ+ Americans are Arkansas, Tennessee, Idaho, South Carolina and Florida.
The report noted that the bottom-ranked states are sliding further each year, while the number of states clustered in the middle of the scale continues to shrink, leaving a starker divide between the most and least welcoming places to live.
OutLeadership chief executive Todd Sears wrote that the distance between welcoming and hostile states had reached a record high and was still growing. He argued the divide carries real costs for companies trying to operate across such an uneven legal landscape, while rewarding those willing to take a stand.
Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Illinois have all remained among the least hostile states in the US, according to the index.
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