Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

state of North Dakota may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, and same-sex couples and families headed by same-sex couples are eligible for all of the protections available to opposite-sex married couples;

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

has been legal since June 2015 as a result of ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...

''. State statutes do not address discrimination on account of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...

; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in '' Bostock v. Clayton County'' established that employment discrimination against LGBT people is illegal under federal law.

Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity

Prior to European settlement in the 18th and 19th centuries, there were no known legal or social punishments for engaging in homosexual activity. Perceptions toward

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

and sexuality within Native American tribes both were and still are different than those of people from European descent. Several tribes have traditions of "

third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usuall ...

" people (also called "

two-spirit Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...

") who perform tasks and wear clothes within the tribe that outsiders may consider to be gender non-conforming or incongruous with their primary or secondary sex characteristics. Among the

Arikara Arikara (), also known as Sahnish,
''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011)

, "male-bodied" people who "act as women" are known as '' skuxát''. Likewise, the

Hidatsa The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent ...

and the

Mandan The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...

refer to them as '' miati'' and '' mihdeke'', respectively, while they are known as '' wįktą'', '' winkta'' and '' wíŋkte'' (or ''winkte'') among the

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakod ...

, the

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

and the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...

. The first criminal law against

sodomy Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sod ...

in North Dakota was enacted in 1862, then the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

. It prohibited heterosexual and homosexual

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotu ...

. The law was expanded in 1885 to include anal intercourse. The state's vagrancy laws were expanded in 1903 to cover anyone whose speech or conduct was deemed to be "lewd, wanton and lascivious". In ''State v. Nelson'' (1917), the North Dakota Supreme Court broadened the scope of the sodomy law to include acts of

cunnilingus Cunnilingus is an oral sex act performed by a person on the vulva or vagina of another person. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the human female genitalia, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused ...

. In 1927, a law initially designed to permit the sterilization of mentally and physically disabled inmates was expanded to include anyone who state authorities believed might be "habitual criminals, moral degenerates and sexual perverts". The forced sterilization law was repealed in 1965. In 1973, the state legalized private, adult, consensual homosexual relations as part of a larger revision of the Criminal Code that set the universal age of consent at eighteen years.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

Same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

has been legal in North Dakota since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in ''

'' on June 26, 2015, which found the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples unconstitutional. The state had previously restricted marriage to the union of one man and one woman and denied recognition to same-sex unions under any legal designation both in its

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

and by statute. A lawsuit challenging the state's refusal to license and recognize same-sex marriages, ''Ramsay v. Dalrymple'', was initiated in June 2014, but proceedings were suspended in January 2015 pending action by the U.S. Supreme Court in related cases. In August 2020, the

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (Ojibwe language: ''Mikinaakwajiw-ininiwag'') is a Native American tribe of Ojibwa mixed heritage people, who would be considered Metis if they were Canadian, based on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reser ...

legalized same-sex marriage within its reservation by a vote of 6–2; the first Native American tribal jurisdiction in North Dakota to do so.

Adoption and parenting

North Dakota permits adoption by individuals and state law does not expressly ban LGBT people or same-sex couples from adopting or having custody of children. However, in the 1980s, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that because of societal prejudices, the

of a parent would be the deciding factor in child custody cases. This ruling was subsequently reversed in 2003. North Dakota law expressly allows private adoption organizations in the state to discriminate against LGBT individuals or couples seeking to adopt children, if such discrimination is based on a sincerely held religious belief. Lesbian couples have access to assisted reproduction services, such as

in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) f ...

. State law recognizes the non-genetic, non-gestational mother as a legal parent to a child born via donor insemination, irrespective of the marital status of the parents. In addition, North Dakota law explicitly permits gestational surrogacy. This statute also declares that a child born to a gestational surrogate is the child of the intended parents, whether same-sex or different-sex, for all intents and purposes. Traditional surrogacy is prohibited regardless of sexual orientation.

Discrimination protections

North Dakota counties and cities with sexual orientation and gender identity protection

North Dakota statutes do not explicitly address discrimination on the basis of

. Since 2001, the city of Fargo has had a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation, but it only applies to city employees. A similar policy exists in Jamestown. The Human Rights Campaign added Bismarck and

to this list in 2016 under its annual "Municipal Equality Index", though removed them in later versions of the index. On June 17, 2013, the Grand Forks City Council approved a measure to protect city employees and city job applicants from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, becoming the second city in North Dakota to do so, and the first to address gender identity-based discrimination. Later that year, the city became the first in North Dakota to ban discrimination in rental housing based on sexual orientation or gender identity. On February 17, 2015, the

North Dakota Senate The North Dakota Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota House of Representatives. Per the state constitution, North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts appo ...

voted 25–22 to approve a bill that would have banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. The bill did not receive enough votes to pass in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. In April 2021,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Doug Burgum Douglas James Burgum (born August 1, 1956) is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and politician serving as the 33rd governor of North Dakota since 2016. He is a member of the Republican Party. Burgum was born and raised in the small to ...

signed a bill into law allowing student groups at colleges, universities and high schools to discriminate against LGBT students. Many public colleges and universities have policies requiring students organizations receiving financial support from the institution not to discriminate against students based on race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. These policies were upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2010 in '' Christian Legal Society v. Martinez''. In March 2023, a bill formally passed the North Dakota Legislature to legally allow businesses to "refuse service on any grounds whatsoever" - based upon religious objective alone by an individual. The

Governor of North Dakota The governor of North Dakota is the head of government of North Dakota and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The Constitution of North Dakota specifies that "the executive power is vested in the governor" in Secti ...

is yet to either sign or veto the bill.

''Bostock v. Clayton County''

On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''Bostock v. Clayton County'', consolidated with '' Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda'', and in '' R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission'' that discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is discrimination on the basis of sex, and

Title VII The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requi ...

therefore protects LGBT employees from discrimination.

Hate crime law

North Dakota law does not address hate crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation. North Dakota does have a law that addresses hate or bias based crimes, but it does not address sexual orientation or gender identity. The ''Federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990'' encouraged states to report hate crime data to the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

. Fargo is the city responsible for reporting hate crimes to the state and federal governments. Studies have shown that 2 in 3 hate crimes go unreported. This small knowledge of hate crimes may contribute to the lack of legislation in support of the LGBT community. Groups like the Human Rights Campaign, along with other organizations, are currently working with North Dakota law officials in order to modify the hate crime laws to be LGBT-inclusive. Although North Dakota's hate crime law does not protect LGBT people, U.S. federal law has addressed the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity since 2009, when the ''

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is a landmark United States federal law, passed on October 22, 2009, and signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009, as a rider to the National Defense Auth ...

'' was signed into law by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. Hate crimes committed on the basis of the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity can be prosecuted in federal court.

Transgender rights

Identity documents

North Dakota permits transgender people to change their legal gender. The North Dakota Health Department will issue an amended birth certificate on receipt of a written request of "the person who has undergone the operation (

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and a ...

)", an affidavit by a physician stating "that the physician has performed an operation on the person, and that by reason of the operation, the sex designation of such person's birth record should be changed", a court order for legal name change, and payment of the associated fees.North Dakota
, ''National Center for Transgender Equality'' The Department of Transportation will update the gender marker on a driver's license and state ID card upon receipt of a letter signed by a physician or therapist stating that the applicant has completed a permanent gender change.

Gender-affirming care for minors

It is illegal to provide gender-affirming care to minors. On April 5, 2023, the state legislature passed a bill by a veto-proof majority.

Schools

Athletics

In 2021, the North Dakota Legislature passed legislation to ban transgender students from participating in school sport teams. The bill passed the House by a vote of 69–25 and the Senate by a vote 27–20. The

, vetoed the bill on April 21, 2021. Overriding the governor's veto would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers. In April 2023, a bill passed the state legislature and was signed into law by the Governor - to legally ban transgender individuals playing on female sports and athletics within North Dakota. 20 other jurisdictions across the United States has implemented similar laws.

Pronouns

In March 2023, a bill passed the North Dakota Legislature that bans preferred gender pronouns for trans people within all state-run schools and classrooms. The

formally vetoed the bill. Another bill with amendments attached (via committee) was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor - that would require the disclosure and outing of transgender students within state-run schools and will go into effect July 1.

Bathroom bans

In April 2023, a bill passed both houses of the North Dakota Legislature and was signed into law by the

to explicitly banning public bathroom usage for transgender individuals - throughout North Dakota facilities and businesses. Effective July 1.

Politics

In July 2020, the North Dakotan

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

delegates voted in favor of the party's 2020 election platform. The platform opposes absolutely any civil rights protections for LGBT people, while accusing transgender people "of preying on women" and LGBT people of "recruiting children". Many Republican delegates condemned the platform. Republican

also opposed the anti-gay platform, calling it "divisive and divisional", and saying, "As I've long said, all North Dakotans deserve to be treated equally and live free of discrimination". Carrie Evans was elected to the

Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 20 ...

City Council in June 2020 and is the first openly lesbian to hold elected office in the state. In 2012,

Joshua Boschee Joshua Boschee is an American politician, who was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in the 2012 state elections. A member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, he represents the 44th District in the legislature, serving alon ...

became the first openly gay man to be elected to the

North Dakota House of Representatives The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate. North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts apportioned by population as d ...

. In 2015, Representative Randy Boehning was outed as bisexual, after having voted against an LGBT rights bill in the House.

Conversion therapy laws

In June 2021, a policy was adopted in committee within North Dakota from a

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

(which does not require legislative approval) - to legally ban

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...

social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

, psychologists and councilors with their clients and/or hosts.

Public opinion

A 2017

Public Religion Research Institute The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of politic ...

(PRRI) opinion poll found that 53% of North Dakota residents supported same-sex marriage, while 35% opposed it and 12% were unsure.Public opinion on same-sex marriage by state: North Dakota
. ''PRRI – American Values Atlas''. The same PRRI poll also found that 58% of North Dakotans supported an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity, while 29% were opposed. Furthermore, 49% were against allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay and lesbian people due to religious beliefs, while 38% supported allowing such religiously-based refusals.

Summary table

References

{{LGBT rights in the United States LGBT rights in North Dakota