Human Rights Campaign Grades Providence On LGBT Inclusivity
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Providence earned a 'B' grade in the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index with a final score of 81 out of 100.
The index is a survey of the laws, policies, and services of local municipalities, which are rated on the basis of their inclusivity of LGBT people who live and work in those communities.
But the scorecard doesn't capture all the positive facets at the municipal level in Providence, locals say.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTChad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said his organization's survey revealed that “municipalities are leading a quiet pro-equality transformation.”
“This year's MEI reveals that our progress this year didn't begin and end at the U.S. Supreme Court — it reached cities and towns in each and every state in this country,” Griffin said in this year's report.
Local Response
Rodney Davis, a long-time volunteer with Rhode Island Pride and that organization's outgoing board president, lauded the cooperative relationship his organization has had with the city of Providence.
“My involvement with RI Pride has given me the opportunity to work with a number of administrations in Providence, and we've seen progressive growth, not only with access to the mayor and that office,” but other city departments as well, Davis said.
Kate Monteiro, a long-time activist involved with Rhode Island Pride, Marriage Equality Rhode Island, and the former Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, said the difference in the LGBT community's relationship with the municipality between now and a generation ago was “night and day.”
In the last nearly 20 years, the city of Providence has progressed by leaps and bounds ... to be a very good city for LGBT citizens and political concerns,” Monteiro said.
Involved in Rhode Island Pride since 1991, Davis praised departments outside of the mayor's office, like parks and recreation, that have helped the city's PrideFest to continue to expand. “Where there's been a need, the administration has been extremely helpful.”
“The administration works with the LGBT community in a way that, in some ways, is unremarkable,” Monteiro said. In organizing the annual PrideFest, the city “works in the same way it would work with any other arts organization.”
Davis said Rhode Island served as a model for how to change public policy. Now, “that message has to be brought to other cities and town halls,” he said.
Three other cities and regions around the Ocean State were also included in the Human Rights Campaign, including Warwick (a score of 69), Cranston (67), and Kingston (58).
Identified as an inclusive LGBT destination by publications like Travel + Leisure, Providence is also notable for electing the first openly gay mayor of a state capital, David Cicilline, who served eight years in office beginning in 2003.
Former Mayor Buddy Cianci created a liaison position to the gay and lesbian community even earlier, in the 1990s.
Evaluating Laws and Policies
In its recent survey, the Human Rights Campaign is careful to note that the municipal equality ranking does not judge the atmosphere or quality of life of a particular city, rather, “it is an evaluation of the city's laws and policies and an examination of how inclusive city services are of LGBT people,” the report says. Paradoxically, “some high-scoring cities may not feel truly welcoming for all LGBT people, and some low-scoring cities may feel more welcoming than their policies might reflect.”
Twenty-five cities received perfect scores and, evidence of the localized methodology, eight of those were located in states without same-sex marriage or statewide non-discrimination laws.
Of all those studied, 10 percent of cities scored over 96 points, and a quarter scored over 78.
The average score was 57 points with the bottom quarter of cities rating 35 or lower.
The 2013 municipal equality index rated a total 291 cities or regions, from every state in the nation, more than double the number rated in 2012.
Related Slideshow: Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index Scorecard - Providence, RI
HRC's Municipal Equality Index (MEI) demonstrates the ways that many cities can—and do— support the LGBT people who live and work there, even where states and the federal government have failed to do so. GoLocal pulled the data from the 2012 and 2013 reports to show where progress has been made in Providence and Rhode Island.
This year's report rates a total of 291 cities from every state in the nation, representing a total population total of 77,851,822. To see how PVD compares to other cities, download the full 2013 MEI report here and the 2012 version here.
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