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There are more than 190,000 LGBTQ+ adults scattered across households in South Carolina, and many of them are now facing down a difficult decision: whether to leave the state behind.
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32% of LGBTQ+ individuals living in the South are planning on relocating to a more LGBTQ+ friendly place, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by Best Therapies, a LGBTQ+ mental health organization and Chicago therapy network. The group surveyed 1,004 self-identified LGBTQ+ Americans between the ages of 18 and 75.
Nearly half view their state as anti-LGBTQ+ – with people from South Carolina feeling most strongly, alongside Louisiana and Tennessee. At a time when the South – and the Palmetto State in particular – have outpaced the rest of the country in population growth, anti-LGBTQ+ policy may be driving some queer people out.
Ashley Peele is the executive director of AFFA Action – a South Carolina LGBTQ+ policy advocacy organization – but she’s also a South Carolina native, and a queer mom raising three children in North Charleston.
She says the last few years have been tough as lawmakers crackdown on LGBTQ+ protections amid a national backdrop of waning support.
“Some elected leaders– not all of them–are very outspoken about creating a version of this state that does not welcome people like me and my family and my children,” Peele said. “That sort of hostility is hard to balance with how much pride I have for being born and raised in North Charleston and being from the state of South Carolina.”
Within the last 3 years alone, the Statehouse passed an empty resolution against same-sex marriage, Columbia repealed its conversion therapy ban due to state strong-arming and MUSC Health moved to eliminate gender transition care for all after public funding was threatened.
State and federal changes have been directed at transgender individuals in the state, as hormone therapy, changes to identification paperwork and participation in school sports remain in the spotlight.
More than 70 anti-LGBTQ+ provisos and laws were proposed in this legislative session, according to Peele, with only one passing – a “bathroom bill” aimed at restricting where transgender individuals can use the bathroom at public schools and universities. However, 20 will advance to the next legislative session.
The city of Columbia, too, is facing a rollback of LGBTQ+ protections.
The 2025 Municipal Equality Index Scorecard, an evaluation of “how inclusive municipal laws, policies, and services are of LGBTQ+ people who live and work there” by the Human Rights Campaign, – which places it on the higher end for South Carolina scores, 4.
For context, Clemson scored a whopping 16. The highest in the state goes to Myrtle Beach, which earned a 98 in 2025, scoring high for protections of LGBTQ+ people’s quality of life and employment.
The hit to the city’s score came from a lack of public support from city officials for LGBTQ+ equality, as well as a lack of policy efforts compared to previous years.
Cristina Picozzi, executive director of the Harriet Hancock Center for LGBTQ+ support in downtown Columbia, says that the young people they work with are often frightened by hostile rhetoric, but that the center strives to educate them on what legislation will directly impact them.
“The thing that we’ve tried really hard to do at the center is to offer the space to our young people to have these conversations, to share all of these feelings that they have, but also making sure that they have good information,” Picozzi said.
They said that the city continues to partner with the center on issues such as gun violence prevention, and they view the repeal of the conversion therapy ban as an example of state interference in local government. Columbia City Council faced losing up to $4 million in state funding if the ban remained, The State reported previously.
“These are leaders that are supposed to know their city or town the best, they’re supposed to know the needs of those people the best,” Picozzi said. “I think by the state intervening, what it does is it undermines home rule, it undermines those leaders’ ability to truly take care of the residents and the people that live and work and play in that area. I think that was something that was very disheartening to see.”
Picozzi says conversations about leaving the state or moving to a safer area have only increased alongside legislative attacks.
“I think it’s no secret that South Carolina, over the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation being introduced, as well as things that have had some kind of movement in our state house things this year,” Picozzi said. “These are very serious conversations people are having more often, and for a variety of reasons.”
Columbia – and several other cities in South Carolina, such as Myrtle Beach and Charleston – are still considered enclaves of LGBTQ+ community in the state. A more affordable cost-of-living and several well-performing school systems still attract many queer families and businesses to settle down despite the challenges.
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The National Association of Realtors gave South Carolina the only ‘A’ of its fall report on affordability, due to increasing supply of available housing and rapid construction, making it an attractive choice for prospective homeowners.
Additionally, Queer in the World, an online LGBTQ+ travel and lifestyle publication, also highlighted Columbia’s Famously Hot South Carolina Pride and praised the state’s cities for having “a wide range of job opportunities, cultural activities, and entertainment” in a guide for people considering moving to South Carolina.
‘Safety is a thing that you build’
Helix Sparrow, 40, who identifies as nonbinary but prefers feminine pronouns, left Columbia last year after the State Department ceased issuing passports that differed from a person’s sex at birth, fearing that her travel out of the country may be more restricted in a conservative state.
“If South Carolina suddenly became unsafe, I didn’t want to be worried about getting on a plane to leave the country,” Sparrow said. “I wanted to be someplace that was already safe and protected, and so I started looking at places to move pretty quickly.”
She made the decision to move to Minneapolis, Minnesota within the course of a week, leaving behind her ex-wife and two children.
“Part of it was a firm belief that they would be safer without me being there, because if I became a target, I didn’t want my kids to get put in jeopardy as well,” Sparrow said. “(We’ve had) a lot of like difficult, deep and serious grown-up conversations that you kind of hope that you never have to have with your kids when they’re seven years old.”
While looking for a place to move, Sparrow says she didn’t find more security in neighboring states. She settled on Minneapolis because it is both in her birth state and has a record of liberal organizing.
“I wanted to go someplace where at least everyone was aware of the danger and treating it seriously. And that’s what it feels like here,” Sparrow said.
Sparrow slept on the floor of her apartment when she first arrived, as she had yet to buy any furniture, but was able to keep her job as a remote software programmer. But the financial and emotional burdens of the move can leave some LGBTQ+ people vulnerable, says Sparrow.
“Be careful of folks looking to take advantage of your desperation,” she said. “Safety is not a thing that exists somewhere. Safety is a thing that you build for yourself.”
Many queer and transgender people face a sort of Catch-22, where leaving might mean fewer people to advocate or vote for LGBTQ+ protections, but staying may mean risking their or their children’s safety, Peele says.
South Carolina received a failing grade this year for LGBTQ+ safety from SafeHome.org, a home and personal safety research organization, ranking 46th in the nation on a score that reflects both targeted legislation and hate crime statistics.
“I have this mentality of I want everybody to stay in South Carolina, and the more people we have advocating for these issues, the better our chances are of moving the needle in a positive direction,” she said. “On the flip side of that, I completely understand when somebody has to make a very difficult decision to move their lives to a place that they feel is safer.”
She also emphasized that much of South Carolina’s LGBTQ+ community is thriving, despite the hardship.
“Queer people exist in South Carolina, they have existed here as long as South Carolina has been a state, and we’re going to continue to exist here,” Peele said. “This is a thriving, joyful, celebratory community. These are our neighbors, these are our business owners, these are members of our congregations.”
Peele is hopeful that fewer people will have to make a decision like Sparrow’s as LGBTQ+ rights advance, however slow.
“I think most people wish that we lived in a state where they didn’t have to make those decisions, and unfortunately that’s not the case today,” she said. “But that’s hopefully a dynamic that we can change with enough people advocating.”
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