Map

Medical Decision-Making Policies

Medical decision-making policies govern whether an LGBTQ person can make medical decisions for their same-sex partner or spouse, if their partner or spouse is incapacitated or otherwise not able to make their own decisions.

Map

Foster and Adoption Laws

Foster care non-discrimination laws protect LGBTQ foster parents from discrimination by foster care agencies and officials. Some states explicitly restrict foster care by same-sex parents. Other states ban adoption by unmarried couples, effectively resulting in a ban on foster care by same-sex couples if marriage for same-sex couples is not available in that state.

Map

Same-Sex Couples Raising Children

This map shows the percent of same-sex couples raising children based on data from the 2010 Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, and analyzed by The Williams Institute.

Report

Relationships at Risk: Why We Need to Update State Parentage Laws to Protect Children and Families

June 2023 - This report explains how the current patchwork of parentage laws across the country – many of which haven’t been updated in decades – leaves LGBTQ parents and their children vulnerable.

REPORT

LGBTQ Policy Spotlight: Underneath Obergefell: A National Patchwork of Marriage Laws

March 2022 - This brief offers an analysis of state marriage statutes and constitutional amendments related to marriage for same-sex couples. In many states, if Obergefell were overturned, existing state statutes and amendments banning marriage would go back into effect.

Report

The Delta Variant & the Disproportionate Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTQ Households in the U.S.

December 2021 - This report presents 2021 analysis of a nationally representative survey that finds LGBTQ people continue to be disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and the Delta variant.

brief

Week #1: 10 Ways President Biden Can Support LGBTQ People

November 2020 - This brief highlights 10 actions the Biden administration can immediately start to ensure LGBTQ people and their families can be protected from discrimination.

Report

The High Stakes in the Fulton Case: Undermining the Vital Role of Child Welfare Laws & Regulations in Protecting America’s Children

August 2020 - This report examines the potential outcomes of the Fulton v. City of Philadelphia case, which could create a license to discriminate throughout the child welfare system.

Video

Kids Pay the Price (Updated)

March 2019 - When states allow child services decisions to be based on religious beliefs and not the best interests of kids, it’s kids who pay the price. Learn more in this powerful new ad from MAP, the Child Welfare League of America, and the National Association of Social Workers. For more on the campaign, visit KidsPayThePrice.org.

Resources

Family Support: Resources for Families of Transgender & Gender Diverse Children

February 2019 - Many people don’t understand what it means to be transgender, so some parents or family members struggle when their child comes out as transgender or gender diverse. These resources are geared toward answering those questions. These resources also help parents gain deeper understanding and learn how to best support their child in ways that can help them succeed and thrive. 

Guide

Talking About Family Acceptance & Transgender Youth

February 2019 – Parents, family and friends of transgender youth can play a vital role in providing guidance to others who know or believe their child might be transgender—and that’s where this guide comes in. Talking About Family Acceptance & Transgender Youth, is designed primarily for use by parents, family and friends of transgender youth and provides an overview of conversation approaches that can help families and friends build and extend support for the transgender youth in their own lives.

Video

Journeys: The Berman-Ruth & Wylie Families

February 2019 – This ad showcases the Berman-Ruth family and their close family friends, the Wylie family, discussing how they have supported their son, Xander, a transgender boy, through his transition. Journeys: The Berman-Ruth & Wylie Families, was released as part of the Advancing Acceptance campaign, a project of MAP, the Biden Foundation and Gender Spectrum. Learn more at www.advancingacceptance.org.

Policy Brief

Kids Pay the Price: How Discriminatory Adoption and Foster Care Laws Harm Children

September 2018  - This policy brief, authored by MAP and the Family Equality Council, in partnership with the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), offers a snapshot of the impact of discriminatory foster and adoption laws on the thousands of children waiting to be adopted in the seven states where these laws currently exist, the high stakes of passing similar laws in other states, and offers recommendations for supporting children in care.

Report

CREATING A LICENSE TO DISCRIMINATE: 2018 FEDERAL CHILD WELFARE AMENDMENT

July 2018 – An amendment to a federal appropriations bill seeks to create a license to discriminate for child welfare providers, prioritizes the interests of providers over the welfare of children, reduces the likelihood that the most vulnerable children will find stability, and cuts more than $1.04 billion to state child welfare budgets. The more than 395,000 children in the child welfare system across the country will pay the price.

Video

Kids Pay the Price: Oklahoma

April 2018 - To support the efforts of Freedom Oklahoma to fight back against a dangerous adoption discrimination bill in 2018, MAP and partners at Lambda Legal and the Family Equality Council ran this ad on television in Oklahoma called “Kids Pay the Price,” illustrating the harms of bills like SB 1140.

Report

Kids Pay the Price: How Religious Exemptions for Child Welfare Services Harm Children

 September 2017  - This report details how religious exemptions for child welfare providers hurt children and vulnerable families. Agencies that provide services to children and parents should focus on providing loving, stable homes for children and helping families in need. Instead, these laws encourage and enable adoption agencies and their workers to reject qualified parents who don’t share the agency’s or worker’s religious beliefs.

Policy Brief

License to Discriminate: Alabama House Bill 24

March 2017 - Learn about Alabama House Bill 24, which would allow child-placement agencies to make placement decisions based on their own religious beliefs, hurting the more than 4,745 children in the care of the state of Alabama, including more than 1,020 children who are awaiting adoption. HB 24 would allow child-placement agencies to impose their beliefs on and discriminate against children and families while providing services paid for with taxpayer money.

Policy Brief

License to Discriminate: How Religious Exemption Legislation For Social Services Agencies Harms Children

THIS REPORT HAS BEEN UPDATED
March 2017 - Read about religious exemption legislation that would allow child placement and adoption agencies to discriminate against loving families while providing government services paid for with taxpayer money. These laws enable adoption agencies and their workers to reject parents who don’t share the agency’s or worker’s religious beliefs, legally prioritizing those beliefs over the best interests of children.

Policy Brief

License to Discriminate: South Dakota Senate Bill 149

March 2017 - Senate Bill 149 allows child-placement agencies to make placement and child treatment decisions based on their own religious beliefs, as opposed to following standards that advance the best interests of children. SB 149 would allow child-placement agencies to impose their beliefs on others and to discriminate against children and families, all while providing services paid for with taxpayer money.

Report

Talking About Religious Exemptions Laws

May 2016 - Read about approaches for effective conversations about harmful religious exemptions that threaten not only laws that protect LGBT people from discrimination, but also access to health care (including women's reproductive health), public safety, and more.

Report

LGBT Families: Facts At a Glance

October 2012 - Access easy-to-navigate charts, maps and tables examining key population data on LGBT families, snapshots of how laws and policies hurt children with LGBT parents at the federal and state levels, and more in this companion document to All Children Matter.

Report

Finding Children Forever Homes: LGBT Foster & Adoptive Families

June 2012 - MAP, Family Equality Council, the Center for American Progress, the ACLU and the Human Rights Campaign report on how LGBT families can help fill the pressing need for loving, stable foster and adoptive homes for waiting children.

Report

Unequal Taxation and Undue Burdens for LGBT Families

April 2012 - MAP, Family Equality Council and the Center for American Progress report on the income tax inequities faced by LGBT families, and how they are denied tax exemptions, credits and deductions that help families ease the financial burdens of raising children.

Report

Strengthening Economic Security for Children Living in LGBT Families

January 2012 - MAP, Family Equality Council, the Center for American Progress and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) report on how inequitable laws hurt children with LGBT parents and contribute to higher rates of child poverty.

Report

Issue Brief: How DOMA Harms Children

November 2011 - MAP, Family Equality Council and the Center for American Progress partner with the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry to examine how DOMA denies children basic rights and safety nets—just because their parents are gay.

Report

All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families: Condensed Version

October 2011 - This 34-page “digest” version of All Children Matter provides a high-level understanding of how legal and social inequalities hurt children of LGBT families—and how children have become collateral damage of laws designed to hurt LGBT people.

Video

Video: All Children Matter

October 2011 - This 60-second video highlights some of the specific legal and social inequalities—from the denial of access to a parent’s health insurance coverage to the denial of legal protections if a parent becomes disabled or dies—that hurt children of LGBT parents.