West Hollywood Receives Top Score In Ranking of LGBTQ-Friendly Cities

The City of West Hollywood has received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2018 Municipal Equality Index (MEI), a nationwide evaluation of municipal laws affecting the LGBT community. The city received 15 bonus points in recognition of specific services such as those to LGBT young people, seniors and homeless people; services to people with HIV/AIDS and services to transgender people. The city also received bonus calculations for its single-occupancy all-gender restrooms, for its work to protect young people from conversion therapy and for its employee domestic partner benefits.

The Human Rights Campaign launched the MEI in 2012 and rates cities yearly. The MEI examines the laws, policies, and services of municipalities of various sizes from every state in the country and rates them on the basis of their inclusivity of LGBT people living and working in those cities. This year’s score once again places the City of West Hollywood at the top of 506 rated municipalities in the nation. West Hollywood has received a score of 100 on the MEI for multiple consecutive years.

“This is the seventh consecutive year that the City of West Hollywood has received a top score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index,” said West Hollywood Mayor John Duran. “With the current administration aiming its intolerance at us, we cannot take for granted our hard-fought rights as LGBT people. We must never stop fighting for our community members here and for LGBT people across the nation.”

A city’s MEI score is based on its non-discrimination laws, its recognition of relationships, its fairness and inclusiveness as an employer, its municipal services, its law enforcement, and its relationship with its LGBT community. Detailed scorecard information is posted on the HRC website. A PDF scorecard for the City of West Hollywood’s 2018 MEI is available online as well.

The City of West Hollywood has a large LGBT population. According to a 2013 Community Study survey, approximately 41% of residents identify as gay or bisexual men and approximately 5% of residents identify as lesbian or bisexual women. The city has advocated for more than three decades for measures to support LGBT individuals and has been in the vanguard on efforts to gain equality for all people on a state, national, and international level. The city was also the first city to create a domestic partnership registry as well as to offer benefits to city employees for same-sex couples.

As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) represents a force of more than 1.5 million members and supporters nationwide. Founded in 1980, HRC advocates on behalf of LGBT Americans, mobilizes grassroots actions in diverse communities, invests strategically to elect supportive individuals to office and educates the public about LGBT issues.