New York-based advocacy group Out Leadership in June scored Montana at number 9 among the least friendly state environments for LGBTQ+ people based on criteria like employee protections, youth support and nondiscrimination laws.
“I think we’ve seen a fairly hostile environment for LGBTQ+ folks,” said McKenzie Ball with Montana business membership program Open to All.
Montana earned nearly 41 out of 100 points in an analysis of business climates across 50 states. Montana lost points for failing to include explicit LGBTQ+ protections in law and for moving to further restrict the expression of gender identity, like passing laws to block transgender people from updating their IDs.
“It can have a pretty chilling effect for businesses, especially when we talk about businesses in sectors like high tech and photonics in places like Bozeman, where you’re attracting investment from companies that are coming from across the country and from across the world,” said Ball.
The report notes individual Montana communities follow local nondiscrimination ordinances, including Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, Helena and Whitefish. Billings voted against passing a nondiscrimination ordinance most recently in 2020.
In the larger region, South Dakota ranked at fourth least LGBTQ+ friendly, Wyoming at 16th and North Dakota at 26th.
