Gay and lesbian realtors don’t just work for gay and lesbian people—anyone in the LGBT community and even straight people often hire them. Those who are transgender may feel especially comfortable working with a gay or lesbian real estate agent because they know they won’t be judged.
While gay and lesbian people have become more accepted, transgender people still have a long way to go. For example, while Caitlyn Jenner may have received a number of compliments, she was also derided and made fun of by a number of people, showing that transgender rights still have a long way to go. If you’re considering transitioning, you may want to find a place to live where you’ll be accepted or, at best, not actively discriminated against. With that in mind, here are a few states where transgender people have very few rights. You may want to avoid moving to these areas for the time being.
Kentucky – The state has been in the news a lot thanks to Kim Davis, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Kentucky is not exactly transgender friendly. The state has no anti-discrimination laws in place for schools, nor does it allow same-sex couples to adopt. Religious-exemption laws allow for discrimination based on someone’s religious preferences, plus the state has yet to ban conversion therapy.
Kansas – Kansas has no protection for LGBT people in regards to employment, school, adoption, or housing, plus they have religious-exemption laws on the books. Conversion therapy is also legal here.
Ohio – Like Kansas, Ohio has no anti-discrimination laws, and conversion therapy is legal. The state doesn’t have religious-exemption laws, though, which makes it slightly better.
Texas – Texas takes everything that Kentucky and Kansas has plus adds to it a law that prevents teachers from talking about LGBT issues in school.
Tennessee – While many of the above states do have very liberal cities that have passed their own laws protecting their transgender citizens, Tennessee has gone as far as to ban individual cities and counties from doing this. There is absolutely no protection for transgender people in Tennessee thanks to this law.
Naturally, there are gay, lesbian, and transgender people living in all of these states. In most cases, they live in those more accepting areas where their orientation or gender is not an issue. Fortunately, more and more cities, counties, and states are recognizing that they must protect all of their citizens and are working to make gay, lesbian, and transgender people equal in the eyes of the law.
