In a recent study from Safe Home, the state of Michigan received a grade of C for LGBTQ+ safety. Michigan’s overall score was a 72.2, and the state was ranked 31st overall. 

Safe Home is an organization that seeks to educate the public about safe practices and products to protect themselves, their homes and their families. Their recent study ranked the U.S.’s 50 states in order of safest to least safe for LGBTQ+ people. 

The grading system was based on the opinions of 1,000 American LGBTQ+ individuals. Based on those opinions, Safe Home calculated how much various laws would affect each state’s safety score. Criteria included parenting freedoms, criminal justice rights, nondiscrimination rights, youth protections and health laws. They then used data from the Human Right Campaign to tally how many laws each state had in the aforementioned categories. These laws were then weighted based on their perceived impact on LGBTQ+ Americans. They also added the frequency of hate crimes committed against LGBTQ+ people in each state, according to the most recent FBI data. 

Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware, Alaska and Hawaii were deemed the five safest states for LGBTQ+ residents. Rhode Island received a perfect score of 100, because of their foster care nondiscrimination laws, mandatory reporting of hate crime statistics, anti-bullying youth laws with explicit protections for LGBTQ+ youth, and laws that include transgender health care in state Medicaid programs. New Hampshire was given a 98.3, Delaware a 98.1, Alaska a 93.5, and Hawaii received a 92.5. 

The worst states for LGBTQ+ safety, according to Safe Home, are South Dakota, Florida, Wyoming, Ohio and Alabama. South Dakota had the lowest score out of the 50 states, with a 46.8. Safe Home says this is because of the state’s “anti-equality” laws, such as HIV and AIDS criminalization laws, laws permitting discrimination in adoption and foster placement, laws restricting transgender people from using gendered facilities in public schools, and bans on “gender-affirming care” for transgender youth. 

Florida dropped from No. 15 in 2023 to No. 49 in 2024, with a score of 47.5. Wyoming was given a 53.5, Ohio a 53.7 and Alabama got a 55.8. 

“So far in 2024, in addition to Florida’s affirmation of its ‘Don’t Say Gay’ policy, a handful of states have restricted or affirmed limitations on listing one’s sex on driver’s licenses using a nongendered category like ‘X’ rather than ‘F’ or ‘M'”, Safe Home writes online. 

“Everyone deserves to feel safe at home, and laws can help ensure personal security for all members of our communities. Substantial progress has been made across the grand arc of history for LGBTQ+ Americans, but as our rankings indicate, there is still far from a consensus view across the United States as to key questions and decisions related to equality under the law. For those who have a choice of where to live, these rankings offer a reference point for finding the safest location.”