The safest states for LGBTQ+ families score was developed by incorporating multiple factors:
- Community population
- The estimated likelihood of household crime victimization, generated using a combination of FBI crime statistics, the National Crime Victimization Survey, and census household size data
- Current protective and discriminatory laws
- The Movement Advancement Project’s policy tally scores
- Pending legislation targeting LGBTQ+ communities
- The political composition of state governments
- Population estimates derived from census data and modeled using population growth trends
- We also took a look at how the top states fared in our State of Safety survey, where we ask residents in every state how safe they feel and how much they worry about crime and safety
After exhaustive research and wrestling with the data and its objective results, along with considering input from LGBTQ+ readers and viewers, the states with the highest safety rating (from our analysis) for LGBTQ+ families are:
- Maine
- New York
- Colorado
- Vermont
- Nevada
- Washington
- Maryland
- Delaware
- Massachusetts
- Rhode Island
Bills and policies aimed at the queer community were at the center of Move.org’s Safety Score. Laws that make states less inclusive to all citizens are sure to impact the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals—especially those looking to start a family.
- 1,229 bills have been active in state legislatures so far in 2025 aimed at LGBTQ+ populations, which on average, make up less than 8% of any state’s population.
- Maine has 23 sex orientation protective laws on the books and 25 gender identity protective laws, which played a big part in it taking the top spot.
- Tennessee (the bottom-ranked state) has 17 negative laws against the LGBTQ+ community.
We chose to weigh negative legislation more heavily against a state's safety score because protective legislation, while designed to make communities safer, healthcare, housing, and education more accessible, and impose consequences for violation, is still easier to work around or violate than a negative law that punishes providers (in healthcare, education, housing, etc.) for granting rights and access to people and services that the legislation is designed to prohibit. Proposed legislation was also considered.
Here's our full research on LGBTQ+ legislation currently on the books across the country:
4 min read
