Lagging behind

Today New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed that state's civil unions bill into law, and last Tuesday (May 22) Vermont Governor Jim Douglas signed into law a bill banning discrimination based on gender expression or identity. Because of this, we thought we'd put out an update on which states 1) currently offer comprehensive protections for same-sex couples or/and 2) have gender expression non-discrimination legislation:

States offering comprehensive protections for same-sex couples:

1992

District of Columbia: domestic partnerships (limited family recognition laws)

1997

Hawaii: reciprocal beneficiaries (limited family recognition laws)

2000

Vermont: civil unions (broad family recognition laws)

2004

Maine: domestic partnerships (limited family recognition laws)
Massachusetts: marriage (full marriage equality)

2005

California : domestic partnerships (broad family recognition laws)
Connecticut: civil unions (broad family recognition laws)

2007

New Hampshire: civil unions (broad family recognition laws)
New Jersey: civil unions (broad family recognition laws)
Oregon: civil unions (broad family recognition laws)
Washington: domestic partnerships (limited family recognition laws)


States where discrimination based on gender expression/identity is illegal:

1993

Minnesota

2001

Rhode Island

2003

California
New Mexico

2005

District of Columbia
Hawaii
Illinois
Maine

2006

New Jersey
Washington

2007

Colorado
Iowa
Oregon
Vermont


Number of times New York appears on this list: 0