
In America, it's legal in 15 states to fire gay or transgender people simply based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a new report.

Currently, the nation has a patchwork of state laws and federal court decisions that create uneven employment protections for the LGBTQ community, depending on where they live and work, according to the analysis by the Movement Advancement Project, or MAP – a Boulder, Colorado-based think tank.

'There is a geographical swath down the middle (of the country) and then a swath down the southeast that don't offer protections for (LGBTQ people),' said Naomi Goldberg, director of policy and research at MAP.

This map illustrates which states have employment protections for LGBTQ people - and which don't. Source: Movement for Advancement Project

'A majority of people in most states support protection for LGBTQ people at work, and yet there's been a lack of action on the part of lawmakers to address that will of the people,' Goldberg told DailyMail.com.

Patricia Dawson, 50, of Pangburn, Arkansas was fired from her job as a contractor in 2012 shortly after revealing to her boss that she was transitioning to a woman.

Patricia Dawson, 50, of Pangburn, Arkansas was fired from her job as a contractor in 2012 shortly after revealing to her boss that she was transitioning to a woman

The termination came despite her boss reassuring her on multiple occasions that she was one of the company's best workers. Since Dawson lived in Arkansas – a state with no legal employment protections for LGBTQ people, she had little recourse.

'I was crushed,' Dawson told DailyMail.com. 'I was literally crushed. I loved my job.'

Dawson's parents had named her Steve at birth, but she knew from an early age that she was a girl. Perhaps that's why it stung that her former employer used that name when firing her.

'(He) said, "I'm sorry Steve, you're one of the best people I have, but you're too much of a distraction and I'm going to have to let you go. I can't afford to lose this contract over one person,"' Dawson said. 'And I was terminated.'

To date, 21 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws explicitly prohibiting employment discrimination against lesbians, gay and transgender people, and the queer community as a whole.

Two additional states (Pennsylvania and Michigan) explicitly interpret existing laws protecting residents from sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity. One state (Wisconsin) prohibits discrimination based only on sexual orientation.

Another 26 states have no explicit protections from employment discrimination for the LGBTQ community. However, 11 of those are in a federal circuit with a ruling that explicitly interprets existing federal law as prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

That leaves 15 states where no protections exist that would prevent employers from firing someone simply for being gay or transgender.

States where it's legal to fire someone for being gay, transgender State Texas North Carolina Missouri Virginia Missouri South Carolina Louisiana Oklahoma Mississippi Arkansas Kansas West Virginia Nebraska South Dakota North Dakota Wyoming LGBTQ Population 873,454 323,319 180,486 139,236 138,998 139,236 138,998 113,491 79,814 76,251 72,782 57,667 55,192 19,939 15,697 14,618 Advertisement

Of those, Texas is the state with largest LGBTQ population (873,454), followed by North Carolina (323,319), Virginia (259,269) and Missouri (180,486).

The other states include South Carolina (139,236 LGBTQ people), Louisiana (138,998), Oklahoma (113,491), Mississippi (79,814), Arkansas (76,251) and Kansas (72,782).

In addition, West Virginia (57,667), Nebraska (55,192), South Dakota (19,939), North Dakota (15,697) and Wyoming (14,618) lack employment protections for LGBTQ people.

A 2018 survey by PRRI (the Public Religion Research Institute) found that 69 percent of Americans support laws that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in jobs, public accommodations and housing.

However, overall support declined slightly in 2018 compared to 2015, when 71 percent of all Americans were supportive of LGBTQ issues.

Vermont was the most pro-LGBTQ state, with 77 percent of residents supportive of such protections, while Arkansas was in last place with 56 percent in favor of preventing discrimination.

The majority support extends to all major religions and nearly every demographic group. Unitarians were the most supportive (90 percent), while Jehovah's Witnesses were the least (53 percent).

Republicans are less likely to agree with such policies (56 percent, compared to 79 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents).

Nationwide, 4.5 percent of Americans identify as LGBTQ – but the population density of queer people varies dramatically from one state to the next, according to separate survey data.

The national figure is higher than previous estimates, which put the U.S. LGBTQ population (which includes people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual) at roughly 10 million adults, or 4.1 percent of the population.

The findings are based on a survey conducted from 2012-2017 by Gallup Daily Tracking, which polled around 350,000 different people over the age of 18 each year. The data was compiled by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.