Iowa City scored 90 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index. The HRC looked at 291 cities across the county and looked a variety of factors in order to come up with their scores.
I went to the HRC Municipal Equality Index to see how Iowa City earned its 90% scoring. Check this out:
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It looks like they have a scoring system that looks not only at each city, but also the local county and state. Iowa City scored 18 out of 18 when it comes to Non-Discrimination Laws. It scored 12 out of 12 when it comes to Relationship Recognition. It scored 26 out of 26 when it comes to Municipality as Employer. Iowa City scored 18 out of 18 when it comes to Municipal Services. We stumbled a bit when it comes to Law Enforcement issues: 10 out of 18. We also struggled when it comes to Relationship with the LGBT Community: 0 out of 8.(!!)
That last one confuses me. We lost points for "Leadership's Public Position on LGBT Equality" and for "Leadership's Pro-Equality Legislative or Policy Efforts." Both our city and our county leadership are quite LGBT-friendly and have been quite vocal with their support for all Iowans, including LGBT-proclamations, policies, and public advocacy. Plus we boast several gay and lesbian politicians. So I'm not sure how we got such a low score.
Either way, we earned a total score of 84 (plus 6 bonus points!!), which brought us up to 90 points out of a potential 100 total points.
In contrast, nearby Cedar Rapids, IA, earned a score of 63, Davenport, IA, earned a score of 90, and Des Moines, IA, earned a score of 88.
I went to the HRC Municipal Equality Index to see how Iowa City earned its 90% scoring. Check this out:
It looks like they have a scoring system that looks not only at each city, but also the local county and state. Iowa City scored 18 out of 18 when it comes to Non-Discrimination Laws. It scored 12 out of 12 when it comes to Relationship Recognition. It scored 26 out of 26 when it comes to Municipality as Employer. Iowa City scored 18 out of 18 when it comes to Municipal Services. We stumbled a bit when it comes to Law Enforcement issues: 10 out of 18. We also struggled when it comes to Relationship with the LGBT Community: 0 out of 8.(!!)
That last one confuses me. We lost points for "Leadership's Public Position on LGBT Equality" and for "Leadership's Pro-Equality Legislative or Policy Efforts." Both our city and our county leadership are quite LGBT-friendly and have been quite vocal with their support for all Iowans, including LGBT-proclamations, policies, and public advocacy. Plus we boast several gay and lesbian politicians. So I'm not sure how we got such a low score.
Either way, we earned a total score of 84 (plus 6 bonus points!!), which brought us up to 90 points out of a potential 100 total points.
In contrast, nearby Cedar Rapids, IA, earned a score of 63, Davenport, IA, earned a score of 90, and Des Moines, IA, earned a score of 88.