The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, in partnership with the Equality Federation, has released its first national report assessing the status of state legislation affecting LGBT equality in the United States, and in California.

The inaugural State Equality Index reveals that, even with progress on marriage equality, there are extraordinary state-to-state disparities in LGBT non-discrimination protections, including in the workplace. The report also stated that there are continuing efforts by equality opponents to pass state-level legislation that would sanction discrimination and undermine minimal existing protections.

California is one of 18 states in the country that has explicit state-level workplace protections for all LGBT employees. It is also one of 36 states with marriage equality.

“With 107 pro-equality laws passed in the last 10 years — many of them sponsored by Equality California — we are proud and gratified that California is the state with the strongest civil rights laws for LGBT people,” Equality California executive director Rick Zbur said. “But despite our steady progress and national leadership, all is not golden in the Golden State. Our community faces startling health and wellness disparities, including disproportionate rates of poverty, suicide, homelessness, violence and lack of insurance. And as the State Equality Index points out, critical LGBT health data is not being collected in California and LGBT people are not being counted in other ways either. So while we celebrate California’s clear leadership, we also recommit ourselves to the considerable work that remains to be done.”

Though same-sex marriage is legal in 36 states and Washington, D.C., more than 111 million people, or 35 percent of Americans, live in states that have marriage but where LGBT people are not fully protected from discrimination in the workplace. And more than 206 million people nationwide live in states where LGBT individuals lacks fully-inclusive statewide workplace sexual orientation and gender identity protections.

“Despite historic progress on issues like marriage equality, a majority of states still struggle to reach even a basic level of equality for LGBT people,” HRC president Chad Griffin said. “Most states lack statewide non-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people — putting countless individuals and families at risk, and creating inequalities in adoption and surrogacy, employments benefits and youth safety and well-being.”

The SEI assesses states on their LGBT-related policies in relationship recognition, parenting laws and policies, non-discrimination laws, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying laws, and health and safety laws and policies. California falls into the highest-performing category, titled “Working Toward Innovative Equality.”

To view the full report, visit tinyurl.com/k5qlqv5.