- Michigan
States like Tennessee and North Dakota present strong cases for inclusion as the last spot on this list. Tennessee is one of the eight "Don't Say Gay" states, as well as ranking high in income inequality and poverty and low in public support for same-sex marriage. Gay Tennesseans are also less likely to know someone like them, as the state has the fourth-smallest percentage of LGBT citizens. It's got nothing on North Dakota, where only 1.7 percent of the population identifies as LGBT, the lowest in the nation.
Protests in front of the federal court in Detroit, Michigan on February 25th, 2014. (Photo: Courtney Sacco/Corbis)
But we're going with Michigan. While having more gays than those others, the state has a disproportionately high hate crime rate, with one survey ranking Michigan as high assecond in the nation. These incidents largely target transgender women of color. In 2013, Detroit resident Coko Williams was fatally shot after her throat had been slashed. The previous year, police found the mutilated torso of 19-year-old Michelle Hillard; Michigan Live reports another woman was "burned so badly she couldn't be identified for 11 days." An attack on a lesbian couple in April further highlighted the inadequacy of the state's laws in prosecuting hate crimes.
This wave of anti-LGBT violence is part of the reason why Detroit was named the most dangerous city in the nation for gay travelers, and the survey also cited the metro area's dwindling number of gay bars and high poverty rate...
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