CJ Day
Wyoming is among the states with the lowest amount of legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people, a new study found last month.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a nationwide nonprofit that seeks to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, published the study. The study analysed 508 cities among all 50 states and gave each a score out of 100 based on their laws, benefits, services and municipal policies. The study covered seven cities in Wyoming, and found that all but one, Laramie, scored below the nationwide average of 60.
Laramie scored the highest with 63, followed closely by Jackson at 52. All the rest scored lower than 25, with Cheyenne scoring a 16 and Rock Springs failing to garner any points.
“I’m not going to lie, sometimes it feels pretty scary living as a gay man in Wyoming,” said Ryan Benson, who lives in Laramie and goes to school at the University of Wyoming (UW). “You never really feel safe, like you can be jumped by three guys in trucker hats anytime. It makes it kind of hard to go home when you feel like you’ve always got to be on your guard.”
Benson comes from Sheridan, which scored a 12 in the study. He said Laramie feels much safer than Sheridan, not because of the laws that Laramie has, but because Laramie and UW are much more accepting of LGBTQ+ identities.
UW offers many resources for LGBTQ+ students, such as the Rainbow Resource Center in the Union, Safe Zone trainings for those on campus who may not know how to be a proper ally and a Queer Studies minor introduced in 2011. Despite all this, Benson said he feels Laramie will always struggle to be seen as safe for LGBTQ+ people.
“Laramie will always be the town that killed [Matthew] Shepard,” he said. “A lot is going to have to change if we’re really going to be safe here.”
Some of Wyoming’s cities that scored low do have some sort of LGBT protection. For example, Casper, which the HRC gave an 11 out of 100, recently passed a city law designed to shield LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.
“This is not a ranking of a city’s atmosphere or quality of life. It is an evaluation of the city’s law[s] and policies, and an examination of how inclusive city services are of LGBTQ[+] people,” the HRC wrote in the study. “Some low-scoring cities may feel more welcoming than their policies might reflect.”
All cities in the state lost points because Wyoming lacks many laws that other states have. The state is one of four in the United States that does not have any sort of hate crime legislation, meaning that the perpetrator’s sexism, racism or homophobia can not be brought into account when sentencing.
Furthermore, it is one of 12 states where there is no workplace discrimination law protecting LGBTQ+ people from being fired for their sexuality. A bill in last year’s legislative session sought to pass a law of this type, but it failed despite bipartisan support.
Laramie does have a few laws which are unique among Wyoming cities. The city is one of only two cities in the state that have a municipal law that protects those who work in the city from being fired for their sexuality or gender identity. In addition, there are also laws on Laramie’s books that prevent landlords from refusing to house LGBTQ+ people, an ordinance which is unique among cities in the state.
“I definitely feel a lot safer here than I do when I go back home, or even when I go to the mall in Cheyenne,” said Benson. “Sometimes I might still feel a bit on edge, but it’s hard to tell what’s actually dangerous and what’s actually an anxiety disorder.”
