And the State with the Highest Proportion of Openly Gay Residents Is…

A new survey carried out by Gallup Politics has found that the District of Columbia and the state of Hawaii have the largest number of adults who identify as LGBT

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGB
SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP/Getty Images

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community members and supporters attend the fourth Delhi Queer Pride parade in New Delhi in 2011.

Okay, it’s not really a state. But with one in 10 residents self-identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the District of Columbia is apparently the most gay-friendly area of the country, according to a new poll.

The survey, carried out by the Gallup Politics group from January to December of last year, is the single largest study of the distribution of LGBT-identifying Americans to date.

After D.C., Hawaii had the most respondents who answered in the affirmative, with 5.1% of the population self-identifying as gay; Vermont, Oregon, Maine and Rhode Island rounded out the top five. North Dakota had the smallest proportion of gay residents, with just 1.7%. Montana, Mississippi and Tennessee all tied at 2.6% and Utah, Idaho, Nebraska and Pennsylvania came in at 2.7%.

(PHOTOS: Invisibile Youth: The LGBT that Roam New York)

According to Gallup, the results largely correspond to the varying level of rights each state affords to its gay population. “States with high LGBT percentages tend to be more liberal and have more supportive LGBT legal climates, while those at the lower end of the LGBT spectrum are generally the most conservative,” wrote researchers Gary J. Gates and Frank Newport on Gallup’s website. Under District of Columbia law, for example, gay residents are entitled to same-sex marriage, are allowed to visit their partners or spouses in the hospital and are protected by laws that prohibit discrimination in employment and harassment in schools based on gender identity or sexual orientation. On the other hand in North Dakota, according to research by The Guardian, gays and lesbians are not allowed to adopt children as a couple, and same-sex marriage is disallowed  — as it is in Montana and Tennessee.

The research was carried via telephone interviews with a random sample of adults living across the U.S., who were asked the question, “Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender?” The margin of error varied by state, but in most cases was less than ±2%. The results:

10 States with the Most Positive Responses:
District of Colombia              10.0%
Hawaii                                       5.1%
Vermont                                    4.9%
Oregon                                      4.9%
Maine                                        4.8%
Rhode Island                           4.5%
Massachusetts                         4.4%
South Dakota                           4.4%
Nevada                                     4.2%
California                                 4.0%

10 States with the Least Positive Responses:
Iowa                                           2.8%
Alabama                                    2.8%
Pennsylvania                            2.7%
Nebraska                                  2.7%
Idaho                                         2.7%
Utah                                           2.7%
Tennessee                                 2.6%
Mississippi                               2.6%
Montana                                   2.6%
North Dakota                           1.7%

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