Chicago, IL -
Ahead of Supreme Court hearings, CNN has created an "LGBT rights calculator" to help shed light on the difference in legal protections among the 50 states.
Rating the 10 questions - that range from marriage equality to removing unconstitutional sodomy laws from the books - as "very important," Illinois ranked ninth on the survey.
Illinois remains one of 38 states that bans marriages between same-sex couples, but the state recognizes civil unions.
There are a host of issues that affect LGBT people - not just same-sex marriage - and that is reflected in the question and subsequent rankings.
For example, it is legal to fire someone just because they're gay in 29 states. Illinois offers workplace protections for LGBTs.
Washington D.C. and Washington state were the two best places to live. Iowa ranked third. Wisconsin (20) and Indiana (23) fell in the middle. Oklahoma was ranked last on support for LGBT rights.
Check out the CNN "
LGBT rights calculator" for additional rankings.