City News

Fort Worth scores high for LGBT inclusiveness on new scorecard

Posted Dec. 3, 2012

Fort Worth scored 89 points out of 100 — the second highest among Texas cities — on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, which measures cities’ inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

The Municipal Equality Index (MEI), the first ever rating system of LGBT inclusion in municipal law, finds that while many U.S. cities lag behind in protections for LGBT people, some of the most LGBT-friendly policies in the country have been innovated and implemented at the municipal level, including in states with laws that are unfriendly to the LGBT community.

Fort Worth’s scores, based on 47 criteria falling under six broad categories:

• Non-discrimination laws (18 out of 18 points).
• Relationship recognition (0 out of 12 points).
• The municipality’s employment practices (20 out of 26 points, plus two bonus points).
• Inclusiveness of city services (18 out of 18 points).
• Law enforcement (18 out of 18 points).
• Municipal leadership (6 out of 8 points, plus 7 bonus points).

Here’s how other Texas cities stacked up on the scorecard:

• Austin, 91 points.
• Dallas, 76 points.
• Houston, 52 points.
• El Paso, 49 points.
• San Antonio, 48 points.
• Arlington, 16 points.

The full report, including scorecards for every city and a searchable database, is available online.

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