15 States Where It's Legal To Fire Someone For Being Gay

It should be zero.

All of the following statistics are from the Movement Advancement Project.

In some states, employment non-discrimination laws and federal court rulings protect LGBT people from being fired, discriminated against, or not hired at all because of their sexual orientation. 26 states do not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, but 11 of these states are, according to MAP, "in a federal circuit with a ruling that explicitly interprets existing federal prohibition on sex discrimination...to include discrimination based on sexual orientation." Here are the 15 states with no protection at all.

1. Virginia

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Virginia: 259,268

2. Missouri

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Missouri: 180,486

3. Texas

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Texas: 873,454

4. Arkansas

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Arkansas: 76,251

5. North Carolina

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in North Carolina: 323,319

6. North Dakota

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in North Dakota: 15,697

7. West Virginia

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in West Virginia: 57,667

8. Kansas

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Kansas: 72,783

9. Louisiana

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Louisiana: 138,998

10. Mississippi

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Mississippi: 79,814

11. Nebraska

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Nebraska: 55,192

12. Oklahoma

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Oklahoma: 113,491

13. South Carolina

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in South Carolina: 139,236

14. South Dakota

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in South Dakota: 19,939

15. Wyoming

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Estimated number of LGBT adults living in Wyoming: 14,618

Even in states without protections, some cities and counties have passed local ordinances to protect LGBT people from employment discrimination. Find a list of those places here.