About 20 states have anti-discrimination laws that specifically protect LGBTQ people.

Federal law protects Americans from discrimination in public places such as stores based on disability and “race, color, religion, or national origin.”

Many states go further. Colorado is one of about 20 states, along with the District of Columbia, that have laws that explicitly protect people from being denied service or otherwise discriminated against in public because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, several states interpret existing laws against sex discrimination to apply to biases related to sexual orientation and gender identity, even though they have no laws explicitly prohibiting such discrimination.

In states that do not provide protection for gay and transgender people for that reason, municipal laws cover many residents.

The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, joined a friend-of-the-court in arguing that an exemption in the case, which was decided Friday, would undermine state and federal public lodging laws.

In a questionnaire of 1,528 self-identified LGBTQ adults conducted by the Center for American Progress in 2020, 51 percent of respondents said they had experienced harassment or discrimination in a public space in the past year.