New Orleans excels in LGBT equality, report says

Dallas and Austin received flawless scores of 100, Forth Worth got a 98 and San Antonio a 90.

Although the maximum amount of points a city could earn on the index was 100, available bonus points were available for items like providing services for LGBT homeless persons, being pro-equality despite restrictive state laws and having a municipality that is welcoming to work in for the LGBT population.

The average of California cities surveyed was 73, and the national average was 56. “What makes this progress especially remarkable is that these cities and towns are often going above and beyond state and federal laws to ensure LGBT residents and visitors are protected and treated equally”.

In November, Philadelphians voted to make permanent the city’s Office of LGBT Affairs.

The HRC’s Cathryn Oakley, who authored the report, said Louisville joined Southern cities such as Atlanta; Austin; Dallas; Orlando; St. Petersburg; and Wilton Manors, Florida, in receiving flawless scores.

The Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index rates cities based on non-discrimination polices, inclusiveness of city services and outreach efforts. All of those cities have non-discrimination ordinances in place protecting the LGBT community.

“There are lots of citizens directly impacted by this and I’m glad we have a good score, but we are working on improving”, Feinen said.

Rochester received a flawless score of 100 in the 2015 Municipal Equality Index, issued by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. That’s why HRC is leading the fight to pass the Equality Act, which would extend nationwide non-discrimination protections to LGBT Americans.

Iowa cities to score next behind Iowa City, Davenport and Cedar Rapids were Sioux City (83, up from 61), Des Moines (82, down from 85), Ames (70, not rated last year) and Waterloo (62, also not rated last year). Eleven percent scored 100 points; 25 percent scored over 78 points; 25 percent scored under 31 points; and five percent scored fewer than 10 points.

Fischer applauded the work of all city workers and staff for its work in human rights, but especially the Metro Louisville Human Relations Commission, whose mission is to promote unity, understanding and equal opportunity among all people of Louisville Metro, and to eliminate all forms of bigotry, bias, and hatred from the community.