The many states where transgender people aren’t protected by the law

Transgender people face discrimination not only in how they're treated by their peers and employers, but also in how they're treated by some state laws that don't acknowledge their gender identity or give them the same civil rights protections as everyone else.

The Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group, outlined many of the legal shortfalls in an in-depth infographic, ranging from workplace discrimination laws to whether trans people can change gender markers on their driver's licenses:

Movement Advancement Project

Some of these issues appear to be getting more attention in recent years. The Pentagon is now working on a plan to dismantle its ban on openly serving trans soldiers. And Utah recently became the 19th state to protect people from workplace discrimination based on gender identity. But as the infographic shows, many big issues remain.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

We'll be honest: advertising alone isn't enough for Vox, or most newsrooms, to do the amount of high-quality journalism that the world needs and keep it free. We count on contributor support in order to produce nuanced, clear, and optimistic journalism. We don't have a paywall or ask our readers to subscribe in order to see our content, so instead, we’re coming to you this #GivingTuesday to ask you to make an investment in our future. If you’ve read an explainer this year that helped you to see an issue more clearly, got the answer to a long-time question, or just plain learned something, then we hope you’ll consider making a contribution of $20 or whatever you can today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via