Hate crime laws create additional or enhanced penalties for crimes committed with bias toward particular characteristics, such as race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.  As shown on separate maps, some state laws also require data collection about hate crimes and training for law enforcement about hate crimes. 

The federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act allows the federal government to prosecute hate crimes, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity. State laws may also allow for state or local prosecution of certain hate crimes, depending on what, if any, protections the state law offers.

• Law enumerates sexual orientation and gender identity(23 states , 2 territories + D.C.)
• Law enumerates only sexual orientation (11 states)
• State explicitly interprets existing hate crimes law to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity (1 state)
• Existing hate crime law does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity (12 states)
• No hate crime law (4 states, 3 territories)

 Citations & More Information

*Notes:
–Rhode Island’s data collection law includes both sexual orientation and gender identity, but its actual hate crime statute includes only sexual orientation. Click “Citations & More Information” beneath the map legend for more detail.
–Tennessee state law explicitly enumerates sexual orientation, but not gender identity. However, the law does enumerate “gender,” and the state attorney general affirms that this means transgender people are also protected.
–Both Arkansas and Indiana have laws that are sometimes mischaracterized as hate crime laws. However,  the laws in these two states are written so broadly that they could be applied to virtually any circumstance, which is at odds which both the structure and purpose of hate crime law. For more information, click the “Read the State-by-State Statutes” button, or read MAP’s July 2021 report on hate crime laws linked below.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act amended federal hate crime law to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.  State hate crime laws are still important, because not all crimes may fall under federal jurisdiction.

Read MAP’s report Policy Spotlight: Hate Crime Laws (July 2021) for more analysis of the many dimensions of state hate crime laws, the complex patchwork across states, the limitations of hate crime laws, and the potential opportunities for expanding social and policy responses to hate violence.

Recommended citation:
Movement Advancement Project. “Equality Maps: Hate Crime Laws.” https://www.mapresearch.org/equality-maps/hate_crime_laws. Accessed 02/10/2025. 

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Percent of Adult LGBTQ Population Covered by Laws

*Note: These percentages reflect estimates of the LGBTQ adult population living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Estimates of the LGBTQ adult population in the five inhabited U.S. territories are not available, and so cannot be reflected here.

54%

54 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that have hate crime laws covering sexual orientation and gender identity

24%

24 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that have hate crime laws covering sexual orientation

2%

2 % of LGBTQ population lives in states which explicitly interpret existing hate crimes law to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity

16%

16 % of LGBTQ population lives in states with laws that do not cover sexual orientation or gender identity

4%

4 % of LGBTQ population lives in states with no hate crime laws