Additional reporting by Brittany Woolsey.
For the third year in a row, Long Beach has been named one of the best cities in the country for LGBT inclusion in municipal law and policy. This year, it was also one of 38 cities nationwide to receive a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI).
HRC ranked the 50 state capitals along with the corresponding 55 largest cities in the U.S.; in addition, to be more disciplined in their list, they also ranked the 25 largest, mid-size, and small cities with the highest proportion of gay couples, including unincorporated census-designated places and cities with HRC steering committees. Compared to 291 cities surveyed last year, 353 cities were rated this year.
Long Beach was placed in the top 11% in the nation, city officials announced.
The methodology of the MEI not only ranked cities based upon structural data—such as non-discrimination laws, relationship recognition, the way in which municipalities and their contractors are required to treat LGBT employees, services and programs catering to the LGBT community—but also ranked the potential action of a city government qualitatively—such as the views expressed publicly by local politicians.
While every city could only have a maximum score of 100, the MEI included a possible 20 “bonus points” that were added on after; this puts Long Beach’s raw score at 109, same as last year, as well as behind San Francisco and Philadelphia (116), Boston (114), New York and Seattle (113), and Tempe (112). Our neighbors Los Angeles (101) and West Hollywood (107) showed perfect scores as well.
“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.”
Read the full report below.