2017 Municipal Equality Index

October 23, 2017 8:38 PM

In partnership with the Equality Federation Institute, HRC released its sixth annual Municipal Equality Index, the only nationwide rating system of LGBTQ inclusion in municipal law, policy and services, ranking cities on five metrics:

• Non-Discrimination Laws
• Municipality as an Employer
• Municipal Services
• Law Enforcement
• Relationship with LGBTQ community

Find your city here.

From the report:
Pro-equality municipal progress over
the past year is distinctly evident
when examined by state and region.
Compared to 2016, thirty-six state
averages increased and 3 held steady.

Alabama’s city average grew the most,
increasing by 17 points since the 2016
report.

The overall increase in city scores
caused this year’s national city average
to rise from 55 in 2016 to 57 points.

68 cities scored a 100.
11 scored a 0.

posted by Grandysaur (26 comments total)

Whenever you hear about an incident of LGBTQ abuse or hate, do what you can to make sure it is reported to your county, otherwise all they have is data gathered from law enforcement. Larger municipal counties should have a way to do this through their website.
posted by Brocktoon at 8:52 PM on October 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

I have to admit I find it kind of fucked up that the introduction frames equality as something we should strive for because it's "good for business." Reminds me of an Atlantic op-ed from just a few days ago, How Money Became the Measure of Everything.
posted by perplexion at 8:57 PM on October 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

My home, Seattle, receives a perfect 100 score. That's a lie. Seattle has a rising hate-crime problem (largely, I believe, caused by the influx of tech into the city), and a continuing substantial problem with homelessness both within and without the LGBTQ community.

But hey, there's lots of rich white gays here, so I'm sure the HRC is happy.
posted by petrilli at 10:33 PM on October 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

100! Way to go Pittsburgh!
posted by Anne Neville at 3:59 AM on October 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

If money motivates some people to do the right thing, they're still doing the right thing, and that's better than not doing the right thing. If we wait for people to do the right thing just because it's right, and not because of some extrinsic motivation, we're going to be waiting a long time.
posted by Anne Neville at 4:04 AM on October 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

100! Way to go Pittsburgh!

Proud to see that Albany NY is in the 100 club!
posted by mikelieman at 4:47 AM on October 24, 2017

Yay Cincinnati! I'm totally not surprised by our score. When the biggest employer in the city, a Fortune 500 company, sponsors the Gay Pride Parade? Things are pretty okay.

That said, we didn't get any bonus points, and looking at the categories, I'd love to see the city become more proactive.
posted by cooker girl at 6:35 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Philly FTW! I love this city.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:07 AM on October 24, 2017

Seems like this is USA only?
posted by severiina at 7:30 AM on October 24, 2017

I'll take this opportunity to brag about always quietly progressive Iowa.

Ames 84
Cedar Rapids 100
Davenport 100
Des Moines 97
Dubuque 94
Iowa City 100
Sioux City 91
Waterloo 67
West Des Moines 79
posted by Lutoslawski at 7:41 AM on October 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm not sure this is more than a feel-good pat on the back. Boston has a 100%. Good for us, we're ticking all the boxes to pretending we care.

But are we actually doing that much better than other cities? Hate crimes are reported, but does this index measure what we're doing to prevent them?

I guess Boston also has so much more of a race/class problem than an LGBTQ problem anyway.
posted by explosion at 8:21 AM on October 24, 2017

Petrilli, I think that's true in my town of Grand Rapids as well - it scored 76, but the culture here doesn't seem to reflect that.

But look at the scoring. No where do they ask residents if they feel safe, just if there are laws. They don't ask the number of hate crimes, just if they are reported.
posted by rebent at 8:45 AM on October 24, 2017

One thing that I’m glad for is that they add metrics each year; next year the scorecards will take into account anti-bullying legislation, “bathroom bills,” laws protecting kids from conversion therapy, and whether city employees receive benefits for their domestic partners.
It is important to continue moving the goalposts forward towards justice.
posted by Grandysaur at 8:57 AM on October 24, 2017

Am I missing something, or is DC not included for some reason?
posted by zombieflanders at 8:58 AM on October 24, 2017

Is DC not included for some reason?
The report addresses this, saying it’s the legal powers and limitations of DC are too different from municipal powers to rate along the same criteria.
Sorry, I’m on mobile and am having trouble copypasting the text of the report, but the explanation is on page 10.
posted by Grandysaur at 9:05 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

When the biggest employer in the city, a Fortune 500 company, sponsors the Gay Pride Parade? Things are pretty okay.

*dubious* I dunno; my experience is that nationwide Pride parades tend to celebrate specific types of queer/gay experiences and also wind up seriously catering to those companies and the straight people who come to observe. Moreover, companies tend to sponsor the shit out of those celebrations in an attempt to win LGBT spending dollars and the business of people who think they're allies, whether or not they actually do particularly progressive things with respect to supporting their employees.

I. I would not use corporate sponsoring of the local Pride as a way to judge the actual lived experience for queer people in any given city, is my point.
posted by sciatrix at 9:09 AM on October 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm also dryly unimpressed with Austin's 100, mostly because--look, our city does its goddamn best. Our mayor stands up for us, we were one of the first cities to pass same-sex marriage on a municipal level worldwide, we've got a real push to make unisex bathrooms accessible and available here and pretty good municipal anti-discrimination legislation. There's a lot of things Austin works very hard to get right.

But a lot of that is obviated by the reality of state policies and law, and Austin's LGBTQ-protecting legislation is constantly being targeted and undermined by the state legislature. Honestly, I am deeply cynical about any of these rankings resulting in a score of A or higher for cities embedded in states which are particularly hostile to queer people. And the reality of Texas' legislative climate is that many of the state representatives in power are very, very hostile as well as being incredibly petty--for example, they specifically banned state universities from extending benefits to same-sex spouses legally married else where right up until Obergefell, and I'm sure you all remember the fucking bathroom bill.

I don't think any city should be allowed to pat itself on the back if its state is actively unfriendly. I know we're trying, Austin, and I know we're trying despite being gerrymandered all to fucking hell. But it seems actively insane to award a city struggling under a repressive state regime a high rating. Low rating and encouragement to spend money or move elsewhere might act as a goad to get well-meaning liberals to actually get out and work to make the whole situation better. We should be ashamed of Texas' state of the union in Austin, and we should be using that shame to get out and do something about it--not just sitting here patting ourselves on the back for being pretty good at the local level.
posted by sciatrix at 9:16 AM on October 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I also wonder about general sentiment -- like, how warmly do your neighbors feel about LGBTQ people? Would they be upset if they found out that one of their kids' youth group leaders or teachers was LGBTQ? Do they think LGBTQ people can be good parents? Do they think LGBTQ people are trustworthy, or shameful/disgusting? I bet some of those 100s would start to be differentiated by criteria like these, unfortunately.
posted by en forme de poire at 10:43 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seattle is often derided as being soooo far left, but it's interesting to note that Bellevue also scored 100.
Also, in my random sample of places I've been/lived - Rock Springs Wyoming scored a predictable 3.
posted by dbmcd at 1:41 PM on October 24, 2017

I am impressed with how thorough this is for smaller cities. Also I am excited because a thing I did earned my old city 6 points!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:31 PM on October 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Is there an index for self-gloating about a city's greatness while overlooking the actual shit about that particular city? Like a differential between the two or something.

I don't fully mean this as snark, I think it would be interesting to see a city's ... hubris? Pride? And compare it to how it ranks amongst other cities in the aggregate.

Are some cities more... humble... than others?
posted by symbioid at 9:40 PM on October 24, 2017

100/100 certainly doesn’t mean perfect, that much is very clear and very true, no matter what city. But eyebrows comment reminds me that these are real things we’ve been fighting for. I’ve spent a hell of a lot of time in city council meetings, making phone calls, rounding up folks to make public comment, for my city’s recent NDO. Like, municipal metrics aren’t everything, but they sure are something.
posted by Grandysaur at 9:49 PM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

If money motivates some people to do the right thing, they're still doing the right thing, and that's better than not doing the right thing.

Problem with this is that as soon as market conditions change or what have you, the right thing might not be the super profitable thing anymore, and if the latter was all anyone was interested in, suddenly all that progress is undone. The right thing should be done even where it isn't the most monetarily rewarding.
posted by Dysk at 3:25 AM on October 25, 2017

Is there a list of just the cities that scored 100 or do I have to look at all of them?

I'm really surprised that my current city (Milwaukee, 90/100) scored slightly higher than the city I want to move to (Boulder, 86/100) considering the latter's reputation as a liberal bastion. I assumed Boulder would get 100. (Madison, Wisconsin received 100, which is no surprise at all.)

Anecdotally, as a trans gay man, Milwaukee is pretty darn friendly. I know gay people in city hall and the police have definitely made an effort to reach out. I'd never work for the state of Wisconsin, though.
posted by AFABulous at 1:57 PM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

There are hate crimes and shitty people everywhere. The difference between a city that scored 20 and one that scored 90-100 is that the city can do something about it. If I get kicked out of a bathroom or denied an apartment, I can go to my city's equal rights commission. If I got arrested, the police have a written procedure they're supposed to follow. If I'm a kid bullied at school, there's a process to address that. None of those work perfectly, but the fact that they exist makes a big difference, even if you never need them. It's affirming to know that someone cared enough to write them down.
posted by AFABulous at 2:05 PM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Moreover, companies tend to sponsor the shit out of those celebrations in an attempt to win LGBT spending dollars and the business of people who think they're allies, whether or not they actually do particularly progressive things with respect to supporting their employees.

In this particular case, I believe the corp does. They have health insurance for same-sex partners and I believe, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure, that that includes non-binary partners. By all accounts from LGBT friends who work there, it's a pretty great place to be.
posted by cooker girl at 8:48 AM on October 27, 2017