The MEI measures how many cities can and do support their LGBT communities, even if their state and federal governments do not support LGBT rights.
Among the 353 municipalities evaluated were the four largest cities in each state as well as all 50 state capitals and the home cities for the states’ largest public universities.
That makes for a total of 84 million people, according to the index.
Bloomington was among five Indiana municipalities evaluated in the index. Other cities include Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and South Bend.
Of the cities evaluated, Indianapolis received the highest score, with 82 total points, according to the city’s ?scorecard.
Points were awarded in six categories, including nondiscrimination laws, relationship recognition, employment benefits and municipal ?services.
Bonus points were awarded for categories that do not apply to all municipalities, including having openly LGBT elected or appointed leadership or testing the limits of restrictive state laws.
Bloomington received 18 out of 18 points possible for its nondiscrimination laws in employment, housing and public accommodations. It also received 12 out of 12 for relationship recognition at the state level.
Gay marriage was legalized in Indiana following the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear appeal cases regarding gay marriage bans in early October, legalizing marriages in Indiana, Utah, Virginia, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, according to a previous report by the Indiana Daily Student.
One area in which Bloomington scored lower, however, was the municipality as employer category.
Municipalities that score high marks in this area offer equivalent benefits, protections and treatment to LGBT employees. Bloomington scored 13 out of 29 possible points in this area.
Subcategories considered to determine this score were nondiscrimination in city employment, transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits, city contractor nondiscrimination and equal benefits ?ordinances.
The data represented in the scorecard are from publicly available information.
Data compiled by the HRC were sent to municipality leaderships in July as a preliminary scorecard, allowing the municipalities to review their scores and ask questions.
The average score in the index was 59, whereas half the municipalities scored 61 on the evaluation. Moreover, 25 percent of municipalities scored over 80 and only 11 percent earned a perfect score, according to the index.
Chad Griffin, president of the HRC Foundation, wrote in the report that it is becoming more common for cities across the nation to move toward inclusiveness.
“From police officers bringing pizza to couples waiting in line to be married to city leaders fighting to remove transgender exclusions from employee health plans, cities continue to demonstrate that all corners of America are ready for equality,” ?Griffin said.
For a complete index of results, visit http://www.hrc.org/campaigns/
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