November 25, 2019 | From City of New Orleans
City of New Orleans Earns Perfect Score from Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index
NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans has obtained a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI), earning a score of 106 out of 100, the City's Office of Human Rights and Equity announced. The MEI scores cities across the country for their levels of LGBTQ+ inclusion.
“One of my first acts when I became Mayor was to establish an LGBTQ+ Task Force to specifically focus on the well-being and quality of life of black trans women, with the understanding that progress would be beneficial to all. Through the work of this Task Force, the City is making changes to our services and policies," said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “Although we are proud to obtain a perfect MEI score, we must also emphasize that we did this by getting results for our most marginalized residents within the LGBTQ+ community and that there is still work to be done.”
The increase of the City’s score was due to updating the City’s boilerplate contract language to include gender identity and sexual orientation protections, ensuring that the City offered transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits to City employees, offering programming geared towards LGBTQ+ youth, redesigning the City's LGBTQ+ liaison programs in the Mayor’s Office, New Orleans Police Department and New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, and providing critical training to provide life-saving care to residents.
“This progress for the City of New Orleans has been achieved in a state with limited protections and resources in place for LGBTQ+ community members,” said Vincenzo Pasquantonio, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Human Rights and Equity. “We will continue to fight hard for every member of our community.”
The release of this score coincided with last week's National Trans Day of Remembrance, which serves as a helpful reminder that, even in the nation's most accepting cities, LGBTQ+ communities of color and people of trans and gender-diverse experience face unique and life-threatening challenges that must be addressed.
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