Rochester Receives Perfect Score On 2020 Municipal Equality Index

Press release from the City of Rochester:

December 9 2020

Mayor Lovely A. Warren today announced that the Human Rights Campaign has given Rochester a perfect “100” score on its 2020 Municipal Equality Index (MEI). The MEI examined how inclusive the City’s laws, policies and services are for LGBTQ people who live and work here. The City was rated on its non-discrimination laws, as an employer, for its municipal services, law enforcement and its leadership’s public position on equality. The 2020 MEI is the ninth annual edition and rates 506 cities on 49 different criteria from every state in the nation.

“Advancing LGBTQ rights is extremely important to me and I am proud to advocate on behalf of our community’s many LGBTQ+ citizens,” said Mayor Warren. “Our consistently high score on this index reaffirms and re-energizes our fierce commitment to making Rochester as inclusive and welcoming as possible.”

The City has enacted local gender non-discrimination laws and bans conversion therapy and has supported efforts to enact those protections statewide. Mayor Warren appointed a gay Deputy Mayor and LGBTQ+ Community Liaisons in the Mayor’s Office and Police Department and the City provides transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits for City employees.

The Human Rights Campaign is based in Washington, DC and “is one of the largest advocacy organizations in the country,” according to its website. Its mission is to “end discrimination against LGBTQ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.” The City’s MEI scorecard, as well as the full MEI report can be found at: www.hrc.org/resources/municipal-equality-index.

News Media: For more information, contact Bridgette Burch White at (585) 428-6064 or Bridgette.BurchWhite@cityofrochester.gov.

This press release was produced by the City of Rochester. The views expressed here are the author’s own.