At least the way the laws are currently on the books, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s admission that he is a gay man could be grounds for firing him in TWENTY-NINE states. Whereas as the country has generally embraced gay marriage as a right, LGBT activists have failed to get Congress to pass federal legislation banning discrimination based on transgender identity or sexual orientation. So it remains a state by state issue.
The American Civil Liberties Union has identified with an interactive map those states where, because of the federal failure to protect the rights of LGBT persons, doing what Tim Cook just did could get a person fired. (President Obama signed an executive order in June banning LGBT discrimination, but its reach is limited.) The states the ACLU outs as not having LGBT rights protections are:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming