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Religious Exemptions

Targeted exemptions provide a blanket exemption, or license to discriminate, to anyone operating in a specific area, such as the provision of marriage-related services. The person or organization does not need to seek out this exemption as with RFRAs; it is a blanket license to discriminate. This map shows two types of targeted, marriage-related exemptions. The first type allows private businesses to deny marriage-related services (such as photography, floral, web design or other services) to LGBTQ people and others, if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs. The second type applies to public officials and permits state and local government employees and officials to decline to issue marriage licenses or marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove, despite it being part of the job description to provide these marriage services.
United States Map
  • State has targeted religious exemption that permits private businesses to deny marriage-related services to LGBTQ people (2 states)
  • State has targeted religious exemption law that permits state and local officials to decline to marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove (4 states)
  • State has no religious exemption law related to private marriage services or public officials issuing marriage licenses (46 states , 5 territories + D.C.)

Citations & More Information
*Note: Kansas has a 2015 executive order that applies only to religiously-owned organizations (i.e., not to private businesses generally) providing marriage-related services.

Recommended citation: 
Movement Advancement Project. [Year of access]. "Equality Maps: Religious Exemption Laws.” www.mapresearch.org/equality-maps/religious_exemptions. Data as of [day of access].

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.

2%

2 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that have targeted religious exemption that permits private businesses to deny marriage-related services to LGBTQ people

6%

6 % of LGBTQ 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

94%

94 % of LGBTQ population lives in states that have no religious exemption law related to private marriage services or public officials issuing marriage licenses



Data current as of 06/22/2025
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