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Religious Exemption Laws

State religious exemption laws permit people, churches, non-profit organizations, and sometimes corporations to seek exemptions from state laws that burden their religious beliefs.
United States Map
Washington New York U.S. Virgin Islands Puerto Rico Guam Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands American Samoa New Hampshire Vermont Virginia Pennsylvania New York Maine West Virginia Ohio Kentucky Indiana Michigan Illinois Wisconsin North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Georgia Florida Mississippi Missouri Arkansas Louisiana Iowa Minnesota Oklahoma Kansas Nebraska South Dakota North Dakota Texas 33 Colorado Wyoming Montana Idaho Arizona Utah Nevada Oregon California Hawaii Alaska Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey Delaware Maryland Washington D.C. New Hampshire Vermont
  • State has constitutional religious exemption law (1 state, 0 territories)
  • State has statutory religious exemption law (20 states, 0 territories)
  • State has no broad religious exemption law (29 states, 5 territories + D.C.)

Read the State-by-State Statutes
Some states have case law that has interpreted the state constitution to require some level of scrutiny of laws that may impact the exercise of religion. This map does not include those states.

Recommended citation:
Movement Advancement Project. "Equality Maps: Religious Exemption Laws." http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/religious_exemption_laws (date of access).

Percent of Adult LGBT Population Covered by Laws

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

1%

1 % of LGBT population lives in states with constitutional religious exemption laws

41%

41 % of LGBT population lives in states with statutory religious exemption laws

58%

58 % of LGBT population lives in states that have no broad religious exemption law

Targeted state religious exemption laws permit people, churches, non-profit organizations, and sometimes corporations to seek exemptions from providing services that burden their religious beliefs.
United States Map
  • State permits state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to children and families, including LGBT people and same-sex couples, if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs (10 states, 0 territories)
  • State has targeted religious exemption that permits private businesses to deny services to married same-sex couples (2 states, 0 territories)
  • State has targeted religious exemption that permits medical professionals to decline to serve LGBT clients (4 states, 0 territories)
  • State has no religious exemption law related to provision of services (38 states, 5 territories + D.C.)

Read the State-by-State Statutes
Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia permit state-licensed child welfare agencies to deny foster and adoption services to youth and families.

* Alabama and Michigan permit discrimination only by child service agencies that do not receive government funding. State-licensed agencies can discriminate, but only if they do not receive state funding.

Recommended citation:
Movement Advancement Project. "Equality Maps: Religious Exemption Laws." http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/religious_exemption_laws (date of access).

Percent of Adult LGBT Population Covered by Laws

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

18%

18 % of LGBT population lives in states that permit state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to children and families, including LGBT people and same-sex couples, if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs

1%

1 % of LGBT population lives in states that have targeted religious exemption that permits private businesses to deny services to married same-sex couples

7%

7 % of LGBT population lives in states that have targeted religious exemption that permits medical professionals to decline to serve LGBT clients

74%

74 % of LGBT population lives in states that have no religious exemption law related to provision of services

Targeted state religious exemption laws permit state and local officials to decline to marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove.
United States Map
  • State has targeted religious exemption law that permits state and local officials to decline to marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove (2 states, 0 territories)
  • State has no religious exemption law related to issuing marriage licenses (48 states, 5 territories + D.C.)

Read the State-by-State Statutes
Recommended citation:
Movement Advancement Project. "Equality Maps: Religious Exemption Laws." http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/religious_exemption_laws (date of access).

Percent of Adult LGBT Population Covered by Laws

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

4%

4 % of LGBT population lives in states that have targeted religious exemption law that permits state and local officials to decline to marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove

96%

96 % of LGBT population lives in states that have no religious exemption law related to issuing marriage licenses

Key
  • State does not have this law State has religious exemption law
State Broad Religious Exemption Targeted Adoption/Child Services Denial Targeted Marriage Services Denial Targeted Medical Professionals Denial Targeted Marriage License Denial
  Citations Citations Citations Citations Citations
Alabama State does not have this law State does not have this law State does not have this law
Alaska
American Samoa
Arizona State does not have this law
Arkansas State does not have this law
California
Colorado
Connecticut State does not have this law
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida State does not have this law
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Idaho State does not have this law
Illinois State does not have this law State does not have this law
Indiana State does not have this law
Iowa
Kansas State does not have this law State does not have this law State does not have this law
Kentucky State does not have this law
Louisiana State does not have this law
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan State does not have this law
Minnesota
Mississippi State does not have this law State does not have this law State does not have this law State does not have this law State does not have this law
Missouri State does not have this law
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico State does not have this law
New York
North Carolina State does not have this law
North Dakota State does not have this law
Northern Mariana Islands
Ohio
Oklahoma State does not have this law State does not have this law
Oregon
Pennsylvania State does not have this law
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island State does not have this law
South Carolina State does not have this law State does not have this law
South Dakota State does not have this law
Tennessee State does not have this law State does not have this law
Texas State does not have this law State does not have this law
U.S. Virgin Islands
Utah
Vermont
Virginia State does not have this law State does not have this law
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Data current as of 12/05/2019
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The term “sexual orientation” is loosely defined as a person’s pattern of romantic or sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or more than one sex or gender. Laws that explicitly mention sexual orientation primarily protect or harm lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. That said, transgender people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual can be affected by laws that explicitly mention sexual orientation.

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“Gender identity” is a person’s deeply-felt inner sense of being male, female, or something else or in-between. “Gender expression” refers to a person’s characteristics and behaviors such as appearance, dress, mannerisms and speech patterns that can be described as masculine, feminine, or something else. Gender identity and expression are independent of sexual orientation, and transgender people may identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay or bisexual. Laws that explicitly mention “gender identity” or “gender identity and expression” primarily protect or harm transgender people. These laws also can apply to people who are not transgender, but whose sense of gender or manner of dress does not adhere to gender stereotypes.

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