For the fourth year in a row, the City of Long Beach received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Municipal Equality Index (MEI), a measure of a city’s policies and laws that promote inclusion for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Long Beach was one of 47 cities with a perfect score out of the 408 municipalities that were part of this year’s survey.
The index compiled by HRC, the nation’s largest civil rights organization for the LBGT community, rates cities on five categories, including non-discrimination laws, employment policies, inclusiveness in city services, law enforcement metrics, which include hate crime reporting and municipal leadership on LGBT issues. In total, 41 criteria are analyzed before computing a city’s grade. The 47 cities receiving a perfect score on HRC’s index is the highest number the group has seen since the index began being compiled in 2012.
“Long Beach has a strong and proud history of diversity and inclusiveness,” said Mayor Robert Garcia in a statement. “This recognition illustrates our commitment to respecting the rights of all people in Long Beach.”
“While this has been an historic year for equality, we are constantly reminded of just how far we still have to go,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “In too many communities, LGBT Americans continue to face barriers to equality, overt discrimination, and even violence. We believe those challenges make full equality and strong legal protections all the more important, and today’s report makes clear that hundreds of local communities throughout all 50 states wholeheartedly agree.”
Long Beach has maintained a perfect score for each year the survey has been conducted. Other Southern California cities receiving the highest scores on the index were Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Palm Springs and San Diego. Signal Hill received a score of 96 in the index.
Although the maximum amount of points a city could earn on the index was 100, 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. While Long Beach missed on those three criteria, according to the index, it did earn extra points for providing services to LGBT youth, providing services to people living with HIV/AIDS and having an openly LGBT elected leader.
Mayor Robert Garcia became the city’s first openly gay mayor when he won the election in June 2014.
In this year’s MEI, 11 percent of the cities earned 100 points, while the average city score was 56 points nationwide. California’s cities hovered above the nation’s average with 73 points, with seven other cities scoring a perfect 100. According to the release, 32 million people live in cities with fully-inclusive local protections that are not guaranteed by the states in which they reside.
The report highlighted strong Long Beach examples, such as the Contractor Non-Discrimination Ordinance; Trans-Inclusive Health Benefits; the Human Relations Commission; the Police Department’s LGBT Liaison; City leadership’s public positions regarding LGBT equality; the City Council’s pro-equality legislative and policy efforts; and the City’s LGBT leadership, according to the release.
A total of 408 cities and municipalities were surveyed for the index, an increase from the 353 cities included in last year’s effort from HRC. The cities included in the 2015 report represent about 89 million Americans with the average city score being 56.
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
The report was updated at 5:18PM with reporting by Asia Morris.