Massachusetts in bottom half of country when it comes to LGBTQ+ safety, study shows

BOSTON – Boston kicked off Pride Month by raising a rainbow flag outside of city hall Monday morning. “Happy pride everyone,” said Mayor Michelle Wu.

The city also installed its first pride crosswalk at Clarendon and Tremont Streets in the South End, and when the sun goes down, city hall is now lit up in rainbow colors.

Massachusetts ranked number 28  

But in a new study, Massachusetts’ colors aren’t shining as bright as we may have thought. Safehome.org puts the Bay State at number 28 in the country when it comes to the safety of the LGBTQ+ community. 

“States like Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, they had even more pro-equality laws than Massachusetts does,” said Corie Wagner, Senior Editor of Industry Research at SafeHome.org.

Rhode Island and New Hampshire rank safest

The group’s study showed Rhode Island and New Hampshire rank the safest at numbers one and two. In fact, all the New England states rank safer than Massachusetts when it comes to protecting people from crimes related to gender identity and sexual orientation.

Colleen Finn from Brighton says she knows how it feels. “It was a long time ago, but it really scared me. I faced on-street harassment and death threats, so it sticks with you when you experience that,” she said.

The FBI’s most recent data show that Massachusetts logged 111 LGBTQ+ hate crimes in 2022. Just this past weekend in Carlisle, someone stole the rainbow flags from a special pride display.

“Law enforcement agents and officers in Massachusetts, they might have received more training than officers in others states to be able to identify when a hate crime is taking place,” said Wagner. She said SafeHome.org hopes its study raises awareness and ultimately leads to better protections across the country.