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Over the past decade, the U.S. has made significant progress in promoting and recognizing LGBTQ+ rights.

For example, in 2015, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country.

The U.S. was celebrated for establishing such strong protections for equality for the LGBTQ+ community. However, over the past two years, there has been a growing wave of anti-LGBTQ+ policies and sentiments that seek to roll back these protections.

Given these recent shifts in public perception and government policy, it's more important than ever before to ask if the U.S. is truly LGBTQ+ friendly in 2025.

The U.S. public broadly is generally supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, however, public perception has started to decline, particularly with the transgender community.

In 2022, 80% of Americans supported anti-discrimination policies specific to the LGBTQ+ community, but this percentage dropped to 76% in 2023,

In 2022, 69% of Americans supported same-sex marriage, but this has since dropped to 67% in 2023

In 2024, only 37% of Americans opposed laws that would require one's sex at birth, instead of their gender identity, to be displayed on government IDs.

These numbers highlight an important trend in LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S.: overall support for LGBTQ+ issues is strong, but support is starting to decline.

Despite there being generally strong public support for the LGBTQ+ community, recent government policies and directives suggest that there is a growing target on the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the transgender community.

One major example of new government policies that could negatively impact LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. is President Trump's second-term executive orders.

• New & renewed passports will only display assigned sex at birth.

• The ban on transgender military service members will be reinstated.

• The criminal prosecution of teachers that affirm LGBTQ+ students' identities.

• The prevention of transgender girls from participating on school sports teams.

Other Levels of Government

The Supreme Court announced on March 10, 2025 that they plan to hear a case that could challenge laws that banned conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth.

At a state level, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union

They have documented that the following states have each had over 16 anti-LGBTQ bills this year thus far: Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

In the face of government policies that are unfavorable towards the LGBTQ+ community, it's important to recognize that the U.S. is not a monolith, and there is a huge amount of variation across states in their view and treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.

Marriage Equality

While marriage equality is supported by at least 50% of every state's population, there are sharp differences by state:

• Massachusetts, Vermont, and District of Columbia have the highest percentage of support for marriage equality, at over 80%. ✅

• Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Louisiana have the lowest percentage of support for marriage equality, ranging from 50-52%. ❌

Government ID Policies

Most states' populations have a high level of support for policies that would restrict government IDs to only displaying sex at birth. Only a few states have over 50% of their population support government ID policies that would allow gender marker changes on government IDs.

Four states: Kansas, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee already prohibit gender marker changes on government IDs.

• Massachusetts, Vermont, and District of Columbia have over 50% support for allowing government IDs to display gender identity. ✅

• Mississippi and West Virginia have the lowest percentage of support for government IDs to display gender identity, ranging from 23-24%. ❌

It's extremely important for members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community to recognize the complicated nature of LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S., and to remember that every state has different views and policies for the LGBTQ+ community.

In the face of these negative shifts in public perception and government policies, it's important to recognize that there still are several states with significant amounts of LGBTQ+ people that have committed themselves to protecting LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S.:

California has over 5% of its adult population identifying as LGBTQ+. It's the state with the 2nd highest number of LGBTQ+ equality laws.

California also has three cities that have declared themselves transgender sanctuary cities: Sacramento, San Francisco, and West Hollywood.

Massachusetts is another state where over 5% of its adult population identifies as LGBTQ+. It ranks 12th in the number of LGBTQ+ equality laws.

Massachusetts also has two cities that declared themselves as a sanctuaries for the LGBTQ+ community: Boston and Worcester.

New York also has over 5% of its adult population identifying as LGBTQ+, and is the state with the 4th highest number of LGBTQ+ equality laws.

In 2023, New York's governor signed legislation to declare itself as a "safe haven" state for transgender youth.

These states are important reminders that several regions of the U.S. remain committed to preserving and protecting the LGBTQ+ community, even in the face of anti-LGBTQ policies.

Now that you've read about the broader public's perception of the LGBTQ+ community and recent policy changes that could affect LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S., let's review.

Below are four different statements that are possible descriptors for how friendly the U.S. is towards the LGBTQ+ community in 2025.

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the U.S.'s friendliness towards the LGBTQ+ community?

While strong LGBTQ+ legal protections exist, policies and opinions are shifting and vary widely at the state level, leading to an uneven experience depending on location.

The U.S. is an overwhelmingly LGBTQ+ friendly country, with strong federal protections and consistent social acceptance across all states.

The U.S. has become increasingly hostile toward LGBTQ+ people, with widespread public opposition and a complete rollback of legal protections at all levels.

LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance in the U.S. have remained unchanged over the past decade, with little progress or setbacks at either the social or legal level.

Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou on Unsplash

Now, more than ever, it's important for LGBTQ+ people to be aware of the U.S.'s perception of their community.

While there have been several major advancements in LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. over the past decade, recent policy and perception changes suggest that these are prone to change.

For members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community, it's crucial for them to stay informed about places that are safe, and where their rights will remain protected: