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For the last five years, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, has released a State Equality Index, painting a state-by-state portrait of how well LGBTQ residents are legally protected from discrimination.
In the most recent 2018 report, Oregon was one of 17 states to get the index's highest ranking of "Working Toward Innovative Equality."
That's because Oregon residents are protected by non-discrimination laws that cover housing, employment, credit, insurance and public accommodations.
In 2017, Oregon became the first state to allow non-binary residents to select gender X—for "not specified"—on identification cards. The same year, the state passed legislation making it easier for Oregonians to change the name and gender on their birth certificate.
This legislative session, lawmakers are considering a bill to require schools to adopt suicide prevention plans, with special consideration of LGBTQ students, who are at increased risk.
Other U.S. states are far less laudable.
According to the index, compiled with the help of the Equality Federation Institute, 28 states are in the lowest-ranked category of "High Priority to Achieve Basic Equality." Those states include Florida, Montana, Virginia, Texas, South Dakota and Arizona, among others.
HRC's president, Chad Griffin, says the index should be an important guidepost for legislators preparing to vote on the Equality Act—a bill U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) helped introduce, which would establish comprehensive federal protections for LGBTQ people.
"LGBTQ people still face the sobering reality that their rights are determined by which side of a state or city line they call home," Griffin says in a statement. "As this year's State Equality Index makes clear, the time has come for us to do away with this patchwork of state laws and to protect all LGBTQ people by passing the federal Equality Act."
See Oregon's full report card, and how it compares to other states, here.