Atlanta has received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI) 2020, the only Georgia municipality to do so.
The MEI examines how LGBTQ-inclusive municipal laws, policies, and services are across the country. Cities are rated on 49 different criteria in five categories: non-discrimination laws, municipality as employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and leadership on LGBTQ equality.
Atlanta performed the best in Georgia, receiving a perfect score for the eighth year in a row as well as 9 out of 22 “flex points,” or bonus points awarded for above-and-beyond LGBTQ inclusion like protecting youth from conversion therapy, offering domestic partner benefits to city employees, or having openly LGBTQ elected or appointed municipal leaders. Atlanta was one of 94 cities to receive a perfect score. A total of 506 were rated by HRC.
The scores of other Georgia municipalities are as follows:
Athens-Clarke County: 29
Augusta-Richmond County: 28
Avondale Estates: 18
Columbus: 63
Decatur: 86
North Druid Hills (Dekalb County): 7
Roswell: 5
Sandy Springs: 21
Savannah: 78
“The results of this year’s Municipality Equality Index show definitive evidence that our local leaders across the nation are standing up for equality – even as they faced headwinds from state governments or the Trump-Pence administration,” said Alphonso David, HRC President. “There is no question that the Trump administration made every effort to attack laws aimed to protect LGBTQ people, and our cities have responded with inclusivity and innovative public policy.”
You can read the full MEI report here.