PITTSBURGH, PA (December 3, 2020) The Office of Mayor William Peduto has proudly announced today that for the fourth year in a row, the City of Pittsburgh has scored 100/100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index Scorecard (MEI).
The 2020 MEI scored 506 U.S cities of varying sizes on 49 criteria that examine how inclusive municipal laws, policies and services are for LGBTQ+ people who live and work there. Cities are rated based on non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipals services, law enforcement and the city leadership’s public position on equality.
A few examples of areas MEI scored cities on include the offering of transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits, non-discrimination laws in employment, housing and public accommodations that are enforced by a human rights agency, an LGBTQ+ police liaison and non-discrimination for City employment and contractors. While the final score cannot exceed 100, the City of Pittsburgh received 10 additional flex bonus points for additional equality measures such as providing employee domestic partner benefits, providing services to LGBTQ+ youth and appointing openly LGBTQ+ leaders.
“We are proud to be recognized by the Human Rights Campaign with our 2020 MEI Score of 100,” said Mayor William Peduto, “Thanks to the Office of Equity and our city departments, we have continued to make strides toward being a more inclusive and welcoming city.”
“Pittsburgh is honored to have been scored 100/100, but this score does not mean that the work stops,” said City of Pittsburgh Chief Equity Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff Majestic Lane. “To be truly equitable and inclusive, we will continue to collaborate with the LGBTQ+ community to identify and create goals, policy, services, resources and laws to make sure that our city is equitable for all.”
The City of Pittsburgh’s full MEI scorecard can be found here.
