The Human Rights Campaign has released its Municipal Equality Index (MEI) for this year. They rated the major cities in the United States five categories:
* Non-discrimination ordinances: The presence or absence of local laws barring discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
* Municipality as an employer: Whether the city protects its own LGBT workers from discrimination on the job and offers inclusive health care benefits.* Municipal services: Whether the city has a local "human rights commission" focused on LGBT citizens with a designated community liaison and whether anti-bullying rules are in place in schools.
* Law enforcement: Evaluates the relationship of the police force to LGBT citizens and tracks whether law enforcement reports hate crimes to the FBI.
* Relationship with the LGBT community: How local leaders publicly express their stance on LGBT rights, and whether they push LGBT legislation.
Seven Texas cities were rated above the national average of 55. Four of them did very well -- Austin (100), Fort Worth (100), Dallas (100), and San Antonio (95). Three others also topped the national average, but still have work to do to guarantee equal rights to their LGBTQ citizens -- Plano (74), Houston (71), and El Paso (57). The other 18 Texas cities rated all finished below the national average.
The largest cities in the other states were also rated in the HRC's MEI scorecards. If you would like to see how your city rated, you can go here.
