5 most LGBTQ-hostile states — and they're getting worse

An index that measures state-level LGBTQ+ inclusion for business leaders has measured a national decline in support for the LGBTQ+ community for the fourth consecutive year.

Released this month, the eighth annual State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index examines states across five main categories: legal protections, family support, political and religious attitudes, health care and employment. The index is published by OutLeadership, an LGBTQ+ business network.

This year’s report found that states that rank low in the index are performing worse year over year, and that fewer states are placing toward the middle of the 100-point index scale. The states with the lowest rankings were Arkansas, Tennessee, Idaho, South Carolina and Florida in that order.

Related: What states are the most dangerous for LGBTQ+ people? Here are the worst 15

LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the United States, especially in Republican-led states, and polling suggests that support for LGBTQ+ rights is declining nationally. The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking more than 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures in 2026 alone. The worsening support index this year was driven by states adopting anti-trans bans around bathrooms, sports, pronoun usage and gender-affirming care, plus efforts to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programming on the federal and state levels, according to the report.

“The gap between inclusive and hostile states is wider than it has ever been, and it is still widening,” wrote Out Leadership CEO Todd Sears in an introduction to this year’s report. “For businesses, this means the cost of operating across a fractured regulatory landscape has never been higher, and the return on choosing to lead has never been greater.”

The purpose of the report is to help business leaders make decisions and reflect on economic development as it relates to the LGBTQ+ community.

“Multinational companies face operational and reputational risks when they do business in places where the legal and social atmosphere makes it difficult for LGBTQ+ people to live openly,” the report states.

This year, Out Leadership expanded evaluation criteria for its report to assess issues like bathroom bans, book access, drag performance legality, and LGBTQ+-inclusive government data collection. “If we had kept the Index frozen in its original form, we would be measuring a country that no longer exists,” the report says.

Despite an overall performance decline, the report also found that top-performing states regarding LGBTQ+ rights are only strengthening their protections for LGBTQ+ residents. The 10 best-performing states in this year’s index include Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Vermont, rounding out the top five, respectively, which have all “been fixtures in the top tier for the entire history of the index,” according to this year’s report.