Movement Advancement Project

Hate crime laws, in their current form, rely on law enforcement for responding to hate crime incidents, identifying incidents as hate-motivated, collecting data, connecting victims to needed resources, and more. Some states require law enforcement to receive training about hate crimes, and these trainings commonly include how to correctly identify, appropriately respond to, and accurately collect data and report hate crimes. Importantly, law enforcement training requirements can include more or fewer categories (e.g., crimes based on sexual orientation) than the state’s main hate crime law. The below map shows both what states require law enforcement training about hate crimes, and of those states, which specifically require law enforcement training about hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

State requires hate crime training for law enforcement, including for crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity(13 states)
State requires hate crime training for law enforcement, including for crimes based on sexual orientation (4 states)
State requires hate crime training for law enforcement, but does not mention crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity (1 state)
State does not require hate crime training for law enforcement(32 states , 5 territories + D.C.)
State requires hate crime training for law enforcement but not for crimes based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity, even though the state’s main hate crime law enumerates sexual orientation and/or gender identity (see note)(1 state)
State requires hate crime training, but only for prosecuting attorneys and not for police (1 state)

Citations & More Information

*Note: Kentucky’s hate crime law includes hate crimes based on sexual orientation, but its law enforcement training requirement does not. Oregon’s hate crime law includes hate crimes based on gender identity, but its law enforcement training requirement does not.

In states without hate crime training requirements, law enforcement may still receive such training, but it is not statutorily required that they do so.

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.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/hate_crime_laws. Accessed 04/23/2025.

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.

41%

41 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that require hate crime training for law enforcement, including about crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity

12%

12 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that require hate crime training for law enforcement, including about crimes based on sexual orientation

1 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that require hate crime training for law enforcement, but not about crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity

46%

46 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that do not require hate crime training for law enforcement

Key

State has law that only covers sexual orientationLaw covers sexual orientation
State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identityLaw covers sexual orientation and gender identity/expression

State	Hate Crime Law	Data Collection	Law Enforcement Training	Year Hate Crime Law Passed
	Citations	Citations	Citations
Alabama
Alaska
American Samoa
Arizona	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	2003
Arkansas
California	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	1999
Colorado	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		2005
Connecticut	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2004
Delaware	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity			1997 (SO); 2013 (GI)
District of Columbia	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		1989
Florida	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation		2001
Georgia	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		2020
Guam
Hawaii	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		2003
Idaho
Illinois	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2001 (SO); 2016 (GI)
Indiana		State has law that only covers sexual orientation
Iowa	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	2002
Kansas	State has law that only covers sexual orientation			2002
Kentucky	State has law that only covers sexual orientation			2001
Louisiana	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	2002
Maine	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2001
Maryland	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2005
Massachusetts	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2002 (SO); 2011 (GI)
Michigan	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that only covers sexual orientation		2025
Minnesota	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	1993
Mississippi
Missouri	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity			1999
Montana
Nebraska	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation		2002
Nevada	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		2001 (SO); 2013 (GI)
New Hampshire	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity			2002 (SO); 2019 (GI)
New Jersey	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2002 (SO); 2008 (GI)
New Mexico	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2003
New York	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2002 (SO); 2019 (GI)
North Carolina
North Dakota
Northern Mariana Islands
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2001 (SO); 2008 (GI)
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity
Rhode Island	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	2001 (SO)
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee	State has law that only covers sexual orientation			2001
Texas	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	State has law that only covers sexual orientation	2002
U.S. Virgin Islands	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity			2014
Utah	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity			2019
Vermont	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity			2001
Virginia	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity		2020
Washington	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	State has law that covers sexual orientation and gender identity	1993 (SO); 2009 (GI)
West Virginia
Wisconsin	State has law that only covers sexual orientation			2002
Wyoming

Data current as of 04/23/2025

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Percent of Adult LGBTQ Population Covered by Laws

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