ABOVE: HRC’s 2020 MEI, photo via HRC’s Facebook page.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released the results of its ninth annual Municipal Equality Index (MEI) Dec. 3, in which the cities of Orlando, St. Petersburg and Tampa each received a perfect score of 100%.
The MEI is the only nationwide assessment of LGBTQ equality, scoring how inclusive municipalities are for those who live and work in the cities rated. Of the 506 scored in 2020, a record-breaking 94 earned perfect scores for their nondiscrimination laws, practices, services and public positions on equality.
“The results of this year’s MEI show definitive evidence that our local leaders across the nation are standing up for equality – even as they faced headwinds from state governments or the Trump-Pence administration,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement.
“There is no question that the Trump administration made every effort to attack laws aimed to protect LGBTQ people, and our cities have responded with inclusivity and innovative public policy,” he continued. “Although there is newfound optimism sweeping the country with the incoming Biden-Harris administration, there is still work to be done and ground to make up.”
The 2020 MEI featured two new issue briefs for policymakers to review. The first detailed the importance of addressing systemic racism through municipal action, which “impacts the life of every resident, including those who make up the incredibly diverse LGBTQ community.”
The second detailed the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on workplace equality this year, which confirmed LGBTQ workers are protected by federal civil rights law. Despite such progress, HRC noted that “it is imperative that local governments continue enacting comprehensive nondiscrimination protections.”
“Adopting the measures outlined in the MEI will not only help cultivate more united and safe communities,” David explained, “but it will foster economic growth by signaling to residents, visitors and outside investors that their region is welcoming to all.”
Of the 18 Florida cities HRC evaluated, six including Orlando, St. Petersburg and Tampa received perfect scores. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer celebrated the news via social media.
“Although 2020 has been a year with unprecedented challenges, we should all be proud that City of Orlando has again received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index,” he wrote. “The work toward equal opportunity for every person who calls our city home is not over, but this is a great accomplishment.”
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman also shared the news, echoing the Metro LGBTQ Welcome Center which congratulated the cities receiving perfect scores.
“Getting to a perfect score several years ago was quite celebratory for us in that it was the first illustration of the ‘new day’ in St. Pete,” Kriseman added to Watermark. “Keeping that score, even as the criteria has evolved, has taken much focus and commitment, not just because we want to earn the score, but because we always want to do right by our community. It is my hope that a perfect score will always be St. Pete’s goal.”
“I am so very proud of our city and the work this administration has done over the last seven years that we have received a perfect score,” St. Petersburg LGBTQ Liaison Jim Nixon also noted in a statement. “St. Petersburg continues to demonstrate its commitment to equality for the LGBTQ community and for all that live in our amazing city.”
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor also celebrated Tampa’s score. “Tampa is proud to be an inclusive city where we celebrate our diversity every day,” she said. “Our LGBTQ community is part of Tampa’s colorful fabric, and we are honored to see our HRC score rise in reflection to the progress we have made in the past year to further justice and equity.”
To view the HRC’s full report, visit HRC.org/MEI. You can view Orlando’s scorecard in its entirety here, St. Petersburg’s here and Tampa’s here.
