Best and worst surveys usually never impress me. The results are from an online survey or gathered from people that took the time to fill out and mail in those pesky cards that usually fall out of magazines as you read them. Okay, not all of them gather their data in such a sporadic fashion.
The new "Best And Worst Cities For LGBTQ Equality" results look like data we can trust and believe in.
Each year, the Human Rights Campaign rates cities on equality using measures like whether they have anti-discrimination laws, whether its schools have anti-bullying policies that protect LGBTQ students, whether it reports hate crimes to the FBI, whether transitions for transgender municipal employees are covered by city health care and more. Each of these measures earns a city points. Racking up 100 points like the 60 cities in this report did is pretty impressive, but that also means cities that scored zero have absolutely no protection for LGBTQ people, not even basic ones like preventing LGBTQ students from bullying. – teenvogue.com
The usual cities pop up on the list, Providence, New York City, Columbus, Fort Worth, Sacramento, Provincetown, Mass., Portland, Orlando, San Diego, San Jose, Las Vegas and Austin, but there are some other cities that may shock you and that is because some cities have defied their states and are doing a better job protecting equality.
Some more surprising picks, Time points out, are in traditionally conservative states. Those cities include Atlanta, Louisville and St. Louis. Even though the report notes that more states than ever considered anti-LGBTQ laws like North Carolina's infamous transgender bathroom law this year, many cities still kept equality a priority. For example, Charlotte, North Carolina, scored 73 on the index despite the overarching state laws. That's because the city passed a non-discrimination law. Joining Charlotte, 25 cities out of the 60 that scored 100 points had more comprehensive protection laws than the states they are in. Twenty-five percent of the more than 500 cities ranked scored above 75 on the equality index out of 100 possible points, and half of cities scored over 56 points. The average score is 55. – teenvogue.com
For all of the results, take a look at the 5th annual Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index. Thanks for the great and thorough research HRC and the Equality Federal Institute.
h/t: 5th annual Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index, teenvogue.com