Jersey City, along with San Diego and other U.S. cities, have emerged as the friendliest when it comes to LGBT rights in an annual report of a national gay rights group.
For the third time, Jersey claimed the top spot in the state with a perfect score on the Municipal Equality Index of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). It is among the 47 U.S. cities – including the Californian cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Francisco – to obtain a perfect score in the list that ranks cities for their LGBT-inclusive policies and laws.
“[O]ne of our core commitments has been to ensure that Jersey City is a place where everyone can prosper and be part of our community,” said Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, adding that while it is a “significant accomplishment,” they need to do more in promoting openness and inclusivity in their city.
Back in September, Jersey surfaced as the first municipality in the New Jersey state to announce the expansion of its health benefits for transgender workers. Earlier in May, it also said it would form an LGBT advisory board, an effort that is stalled at present.
Local gender activist Michael Billy lauded the city’s large artist community, close distance to New York, and diversity as factors that make Jersey City LGBT-friendly.
San Diego’s recognition also no longer surprised San Diego Pride’s executive director Stephen Whitburn, who cited the region’s consistency in LGBT acceptance.
“We’ve had a very strong and connected LGBT community politically, dating back to the 1970s,” said Whitburn, highlighting the San Diego LGBT community’s links with the local government in building relationships and forging discussions.
Major leaps were also made by cities that previously did not rank. Louisville in Kentucky, for instance, climbed from a 66 rating in 2014 to a perfect score this year – one of the few southern cities to earn the recognition.
Last year, Louisville was pinpointed to have lacked key policy tools such as transgender-inclusive healthcare and an LGBT liaison to the mayor.
"Together, we did a lot of intentional work around improving some of the areas… We made some major leaps,” reported Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman.
The four-year-old annual list assesses LGBT equality in the country’s 408 cities, with non-discrimination laws, employment standards, quality of city services, anti-bullying measures, and law enforcement as some of its criteria.
Photo : Ted Eytan | Flickr
