With Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signing the gay-rights bill Jan. 21, the state helped the nation reach a more desirable, but not ideal, number. Now, 47 percent of the U.S. population—138 million people—reside in a jurisdiction that outlaws anti-gay discrimination, according to an analysis by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. A decade ago, the number was 34 percent.
The analysis also discovered that more than one in four Americans—27 percent—live in an area that prohibits bias against transgender persons, which is up five percent from just five years ago.
Unfortunately, the flip side of these numbers is that 156 million Americans live in an area where they can be fired or denied housing because of his or her actual or perceived sexual orientation. Additionally, 215 million people reside in a place where someone can be let go or turned down for housing because of actual or perceived gender identity.
Illinois is the 15th state to ban sexual orientation discrimination; Wisconsin, which passed a similar law in 1982, was the first. The Land of Lincoln is also only the fifth state to bar gender identity bias; Minnesota was the first, doing so in 1993.