Providence earns perfect score for LGBT policies

PROVIDENCE RECEIVED A PERFECT score for its LGBT friendly policies from the Human Rights Campaign, Mayor Angel Taveras announced Friday. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
PROVIDENCE RECEIVED A PERFECT score for its LGBT friendly policies from the Human Rights Campaign, Mayor Angel Taveras announced Friday. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – The city received a perfect score on the third annual Municipal Equality Index issued by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.
The report, issued in partnership with the Equality Federation, rates LGBT equality in 353 municipalities from every state in the nation.
Providence was one of 38 cities nationwide, and the only one in Rhode Island, to earn the perfect score and to be recognized for LGBT friendly policies. The city climbed 19 points from its 2013 score.
The Human Rights Campaign considers such things as relationships with the LGBT community, prohibiting employment and pay discrimination, offering domestic partner benefits and protecting students from school bullying because of sexual orientation in its evaluation.
“As a member of Mayors for Marriage Equality, I believe we are incredibly lucky to live in a state like Rhode Island that has been supportive of LGBT equality and was one of the first states to legalize marriage equality,” Mayor Angel Taveras in a statement. “I’m very proud of what we have been able to do in Providence to further these issues at the city level, including strengthening anti-discrimination ordinances and expanding our relationships with the LGBT community.”
Said HRC President Chad Griffin, “Mid-size cities and small towns have become the single greatest engine of progress for LGBT equality – changing countless lives for the better.”
Cities researched for the 2014 MEI include the 50 state capitals, the 200 most populous cities in the country, the four largest cities in every state, the city home to each state’s largest public university and an equal mix of 75 of the nation’s large, mid-size and small municipalities with the highest proportion of same-sex couples.
The average city score was 59 points, with half of the cities researched scoring over 61 points. Eleven percent scored 100 points; 25 percent scored over 80 points; 25 percent scored under 44 points; and 4 percent scored fewer than 10 points.
Besides Providence, Cranston, Pawtucket, South Kingstown and Warwick also were rated. Cranston received a 59; Pawtucket, 62; South Kingstown, 54; and Warwick, 70.
The full report is available online at www.hrc.org/mei.

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