ABOUT THIS MAP
Since 2021, three states (California, New York, and Oregon) have issued statewide guidance to local education agencies and federally funded schools on implementing Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.**  Learn more about federal protections for LGBTQI+ students and how to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

Twenty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have enacted laws expressly prohibiting discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Wisconsin has a law that only prohibits discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation.

Four states (North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah) and the Virgin Islands have state policies that are not laws (including regulations and agency interpretations of existing laws), expressly prohibiting discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Delaware and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas have regulations expressly prohibiting discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation only. In Delaware, schools may be covered under a state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations. See Movement Advancement Project for additional details.

Three states that expressly prohibit discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity have nonetheless passed laws or adopted policies that require or encourage discrimination based on gender identity:

• Iowa has enacted laws that bar participation in school sports and access to school facilities consistent with gender identity, censor curriculum on LGBTQI+ people and topics, and forcibly out transgender and nonbinary students to a parent or guardian.
• North Dakota enacted laws that bar participation in school sports and access to school facilities consistent with gender identity, and encourage forcibly out transgender and nonbinary studentsto a parent or guardian.
• Virginia’s Department of Education rescinded previously affirming model guidance on transgender students and promulgated new (2023) model guidance including forced outing of transgender and nonbinary students and denying access to educational programming and activities consistent with gender identity.

Twenty-three states, American Samoa, and Guam have no state policies expressly prohibiting discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Two states (Missouri and South Dakota) have enacted laws prohibiting enumeration of sexual orientation and gender identity in local nondiscrimination policies.

Source: Analysis of state policy data by GLSEN, supported by state policy data collected and analyzed by Movement Advancement Project (MAP). We continue to assess and categorize states on this map based on updates to state laws and regulations. If you see a state on this map that needs an update, please email policy@glsen.org.

** In June 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued guidance implementing the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County affirming that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in K-12 schools is prohibited under Title IX (Dear Educator Letter, Fact Sheet). The following twenty states legally challenged ED’s guidance and were granted a preliminary injunction that temporarily pauses implementation: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

A formal Title IX rule-making process is underway that would affirm nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex stereotypes, sex characteristics (including intersex traits), and pregnancy and related conditions. A rule is anticipated in spring 2024 with an implementation date in 2024.