Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Nevada enjoy the same rights as non-LGBTQ people. Same-sex marriage has been legal since October 8, 2014, due to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Sevcik v. Sandoval. Same-sex couples may also enter a domestic partnership status that provides many of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. However, domestic partners lack the same rights to medical coverage as their married counterparts and their parental rights are not as well defined. Same-sex couples are also allowed to adopt children. Since 2022 the Nevada Constitution explicitly includes both sexual orientation and gender identity - discrimination laws since 1999 included sexual orientation for employment and expanded thereafter to housing and accommodation (plus added gender identity). In addition, conversion therapy on minors is outlawed in the state.
Nevada is frequently referred to as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly states in the Mountain West. The LGBT think tank Movement Advancement Project ranks Nevada first in the region for LGBT rights legislation. 2017 polling from the Public Religion Research Institute showed that 70% of Nevada residents supported same-sex marriage. In November 2020, Nevada made history in becoming the first U.S. state, by 62% of voters, to enshrine the right to same-sex marriage in the Nevada Constitution.Silver State Election Results In November 2022, Nevada again made history in becoming the first U.S. state, by 58% of voters, to formally add the words "sexual orientation and gender identity or expression" to the state-based Nevada Constitution.
History Among the Native Americans, perceptions towards gender and sexuality were very different from those of the Western world. The Northern Paiute people, for instance, recognize individuals assigned male at birth but who act, behave and live as women, known as tüdayapi. Such individuals are known as tüwasawuts among the Southern Paiute.
Nevada adopted a criminal code in 1861 establishing a sentence of five years' to life imprisonment for sodomy. In 1912, the Supreme Court of Nevada held that fellatio constituted a criminal offense. As was the case for such laws around the United States, Nevada's sodomy law criminalized both heterosexual and homosexual oral sex and anal intercourse. It did not, however, criminalize lesbian acts. In 1951, the minimum penalty of sodomy was reduced to one year imprisonment, but the maximum penalty of life imprisonment was retained. This was changed again in 1967 when it was reduced to one to six years. Furthermore, under a 1961 sex offender registration law, those convicted of sodomy had to register with the local sheriff or chief of police and report any change in address. Over the years, the courts convicted multiple people of sodomy, almost consistently upheld by higher courts, and a challenge to the sodomy law on the grounds of vagueness and unconstitutionality was rejected in 1969. In 1973, 1976 and 1978, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that cunnilingus, masturbation in front of a witness and licking a penis were violations of the sodomy statute.
In 1977, the Nevada Legislature amended the state's sodomy law, redefining the act as "anal intercourse, cunnilingus or fellatio between consenting adults of the same sex", thus legalizing heterosexual activity but also making sexual activity between women illegal for the first time in Nevada's history. The penalty of one to six years' imprisonment remained.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity Nevada decriminalized sodomy in 1993, ten years before the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas struck down laws that criminalized private consensual sexual activity. Senator Lori Lipman Brown introduced Senate Bill 466 on May 13, 1993 to decriminalize what the statutes called "infamous crime against nature". At hearings, two doctors linked repealing the sodomy laws with a public health measure to combat the stigma and spread of HIV. Other supporters included Reno Rabbi Myra Soifer, former senators Helen Foley and Jean Ford, gay rights advocate Lee Plotkin, and progressive activist Bob Fulkerson. Opponents included Janine Hansen of the Nevada Eagle Forum and Independent American Party of Nevada and Lynn Chapman who said that repealing the sodomy laws would increase the spread of HIV/AIDS and would "open the floodgate ... in legalizing, condoning and recognizing homosexuality to be on an equal footing with heterosexuality" and lead to "such things as homosexual marriage and adoption of children." In the course of the legislative process, the words "infamous crime against nature" were replaced by "anal intercourse, cunnilingus or fellatio in public". Other amendments, including one to require sex education in schools to provide "factual information regarding the dangers of such activities" of "a homosexual lifestyle or the infamous crime against nature" were defeated. Democratic Governor Bob Miller signed the legislation on June 16, 1993 and it went into effect on October 1, 1993. However, the age of consent for same-sex sexual activity was unequal and set 2 years higher at 18. It was finally equalized at 16 in line with heterosexuals 20 years later on October 1, 2013.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Nevada voters approved Question 2, an amendment to the Constitution of Nevada that banned same-sex marriage, by 69.6% in 2000 and 67.1% in 2002.
On May 21, 2009, the Nevada Legislature passed the Nevada Domestic Partnership Act to grant both opposite-sex and same-sex couples many of the responsibilities, obligations, rights, entitlements and benefits of marriage under the designation "domestic partnership" rather than "marriage". Governor Jim Gibbons vetoed the legislation, saying he did not personally oppose rights for domestic partners but felt he needed to respect the voters' wishes on the question. On May 30 and 31, both the Assembly and Senate overrode his veto. The law went into effect on October 1, 2009. It exempted both private and public employers from having to provide medical coverage for the domestic partners of their employees even if they did so for their employees' married spouses. Whether other jurisdictions will recognize a Nevada domestic partnership is uncertain, as are some parental rights normally held by married couples. Even in Arizona, the status of domestic partner can be misunderstood and is not always recognized as the equivalent of marriage.
On April 10, 2012, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit, Sevcik v. Sandoval, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on behalf of eight same-sex couples, claiming that Nevada's categorization of same-sex domestic partnerships consigns same-sex couples to "a lesser, second-class status" and constitutes a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. Chief Judge Robert Jones ruled on November 29 that Nevada's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Lambda Legal said it would appeal the decision. On October 7, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Question 2, explicitly reversing Judge Robert Jones' district court ruling, thus making same-sex marriages legal.
Since July 1, 2017, Nevada's marriage statute has incorporated gender-neutral language, thereby explicitly recognizing same-sex marriage in state law. On November 3, 2020, Nevada voters amended the Nevada Constitution to remove the 2002 language banning same-sex marriage. The measure, known as Question 2, was approved with 62% in favor.
In December 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court concluded that the state must retroactively recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions before the Sevcik decision in 2014.
Federal income tax The Internal Revenue Service ruled in 2013, based on the Supreme Court DOMA ruling, that same-sex individuals who have been married in any state where same-sex marriage is legal may file their federal returns as married filing jointly regardless of state of residency.
Discrimination protections and anti-bullying laws During the 1999 legislative session, the Nevada Legislature added prohibition of discrimination based on a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation in public and private employment and public accommodations to state law. In the 2011 legislative session, Governor Brian Sandoval approved and signed into law three bills; A.B. 211, S.B. 331, and S.B. 368 which prohibit discrimination in areas of employment, housing and public accommodation on the basis of "gender identity or expression". S.B. 331 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in public accommodations, and S.B. 368 prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. All three laws took effect on October 1, 2011.
In January 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in jury selections, holding that such dismissals "deprive individuals of the opportunity to participate in perfecting democracy and guarding our ideals of justice on account of a characteristic that has nothing to do with their fitness to serve".
In May 2015, an anti-bullying bill, SB 504, passed the Nevada Legislature. Governor Brian Sandoval signed the bill into law days later. The bill went into full effect on July 1, 2015. It explicitly includes "actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability of a person, sex or any other distinguishing characteristic or background of a person" as protected grounds. The law directs the Department of Education to prescribe policies for schools to address bullying and cyberbullying, procedures for reporting and investigating, requirements for parent notification and provisions to train teachers and staff to properly address bullying.
In May 2017, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill adding sexual orientation and gender identity or expression throughout the rest of Nevada's statutes, alongside race, disability, creed, sex, religion, marital status, domestic partnership status, age, etc. The law went into effect on July 1, 2017.
In 2019, the Nevada Legislature passed SJR8A to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the equal protection clause of the Nevada Constitution. As a constitutional amendment, the legislation required approval in the 2021 legislative session, which happened in March 2021. The measure Question 1 formally appeared on the ballot within November 2022, and was given 58% approval from voters - making Nevada the first US state in history to approve adding the words "sexual orientation and gender identity or expression" to its state-based Constitution.
Hate crime law Nevada law provides additional penalties for the commission of a crime because of certain actual or perceived characteristics of the victim. In 2001, Nevada amended its hate crime law to include sexual orientation, without addressing gender identity or expression. In 2011, Senator David Parks introduced S.B. 180 to add "gender identity or expression" to Nevada's hate crime law. One Democrat, John Lee, voted with the Republicans and the bill failed. In 2013, S.B. 139, which would add "gender identity or expression" to Nevada's hate crime law, was introduced by a bipartisan group and passed the Senate on a vote of 20–1. Senator Joe Hardy, the only vote against the legislation, later said that he should have voted in favor after talking with Senator Pat Spearman, the legislature's first out person of color, a pastor and military veteran. The legislation passed the Assembly on a vote of 30–11 on May 14. Governor Brian Sandoval signed the legislation on May 21, 2013, and the new law took effect on October 1, 2013.