Massachusetts Among States Offering The Most Rights To Gays

Considering Massachusetts was the first state in the country to allow same sex marriage, you would expect the Commonwealth to be among the leaders of gay rights. 

In the wake of North Carolina's decision to amend its Constitution to ban same sex unions, The Guardian has created a model looking at gay rights in each state.

President Barack Obama announced support for same-sex marriage last Wednesday in an interview with ABC. That came a few days after Vice President Joe Biden made similar comments on NBC's "Meet the Press."

According to the graphic, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, along with Washington state, Iowa and the District of Columbia, have the most rights afforded to gays.

Massachusetts allows:

• same sex marriage;
• hospital visitation by same sex partners or spouses;
• gays to adopt, either singly or as a couple.

Massachusetts prohibits:

• employment discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation;
• housing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation;
• harassment in schools based on gender identity or sexual orientation

Also, Massachusetts' hate crime laws include crimes committed based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

In addition to comparing states' level of gay rights, the Guardian graphic allows you to log in through Facebook and see what rights are afforded in the states where all your Facebook friends live.

A search of Census data did not immediately provide estimates of how many same-sex married couples are in Boston, however. A Globe review of Census data showed 20,056 Massachusetts residents claiming a partner of the same sex in 2010.