Eight years of state LGBTQ+ business climate data.
The State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index has been published annually since 2019. Every prior edition is available below for download.
32 indicators (expanded framework debuts); CEO Briefs reviewed by Ropes & Gray; new AG indicator and Corporate-Policy Alignment metric.
Download PDF →The final edition under the legacy 20-indicator framework. Introduced rubric refreshes for the birth-certificate, driver's-license, and no-promo-homo indicators — rescored against currently enacted laws rather than historical statutes.
Download PDF →Sixth annual edition under the legacy 20-indicator framework, on the same rubric set used since 2019. Published amid the 2024 election cycle; documented a second consecutive year of net decline in the all-state average.
Download PDF →First edition published after the wave of state legislative action on transgender rights.
Download PDF →Digital edition; reflects the post-Bostock employment-discrimination landscape.
Download PDF →Released amid the first state legislative wave restricting trans youth healthcare and athletics.
Download PDF →Published in June 2020; the year of Bostock v. Clayton County and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Download PDF →Out Leadership's inaugural State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index, under the Gill Foundation-funded framework.
Download PDF →Reading the trend lines.
Some apparent year-over-year movement reflects scoring-rubric refinements rather than real-world legislative change. The 2025 edition refreshed the birth-certificate, driver's-license, and no-promo-homo indicators against currently enacted laws. The 2026 edition added 12 new indicators (expanding from 20 to 32), refined the no-promo-homo indicator into a four-tier rubric, and updated the conversion-therapy indicator following Chiles v. Salazar.
When comparing across editions, the 2026 Index reports both a legacy /100 score (20-indicator, apples-to-apples with prior years) and the expanded /100 score (32-indicator, the new headline). Both are listed side-by-side throughout the report and on every state page on this site.