North Carolina law provides virtually no protection for public employees against job discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. No state-wide statute has been enacted in North Carolina to prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Also, little judicial or administrative action surrounding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the employment context or otherwise appears to exist.

In 2001, Maryland enacted legislation that prohibits discrimination against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in employment, housing, and public accommodations.1 The laws of Montgomery County and Baltimore City also include gender identity as a protected class. Similar legislation has been proposed in the Maryland legislature, but has not passed.

Wyoming, the least populous state in the United States, currently has no laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Legislation was introduced in 2009 that would add sexual orientation to the list of enumerated classes that are currently protected against employment discrimination, but the bill would not extend such protections to gender identity.

In 1995, Rhode Island’s General Assembly added protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation to the state civil rights law, initially passed in 1949.

The California Fair Employment Practices and Housing Act (―FEHA‖) prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, in both public and private employment as well as housing. Despite having strong state laws in place, discrimination against LGBT state and local government employees has been well documented.

Oklahoma has no state legislation that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. As late as 1990, Oklahoma laws included a statute prohibiting employment of openly gay teachers in public schools. One state agency and one county in Oklahoma have instituted policies prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation: the state Attorney General’s office and Oklahoma County. In 2005, a bill was introduced in the Oklahoma legislature to rescind both of these policies. Although the bill failed, Oklahoma County removed sexual orientation from its published employment non-discrimination policy.

Attempts to pass a law in Nebraska prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation have failed for the last fourteen years.1 As a result, in 1996, the Nebraska Attorney General opined that the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission (NEOC) does not have jurisdiction to consider any claim based on sexual orientation discrimination.

Under New York law, sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace is prohibited. Sexual orientation non-discrimination legislation was first introduced in New York in the early 1970s.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Documentation of Discrimination