A new report ranked the United States 31 out of 136 countries, a score that’s expected to fall in the wake of hundreds of bills targeting anti-LGBTQ+ rights across the country. The report is based on the lived realities of more than 167,000 queer people surveyed worldwide, trailing behind France, Vietnam and Hong Kong. But, the United States is also headed toward a failing grade. The report also shows that Uruguay, Luxembourg, Brazil, Norway, Colombia, Malta, and Chile are the countries that best uphold the human rights of their LGBTQ+ citizens. The report is based on the annual study conducted by a partnership led by Franklin & Marshall College, which delves into a country’s policies and as well as climate. It gave more than half of the world — 62 percent — an F. As per the report, The United States has scored a C or “resisting” grade when it comes to LGBTQ+ human rights. This latest report looks at data from 2020. Since then, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have flooded and passed state legislatures, most of them targeting transgender youth. In 2023, U.S. state houses saw more than 700 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced, and lawmakers passed more than 70 of them. Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, professor of government at Franklin & Marshall College and the study’s founder said Florida alone would lower the whole country’s human rights score because the state passed anti-trans legislation as well as the colloquially-known “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
