Eight KY cities rated on equality

The Human Rights Campaign has released their 2021 Municipal Equality Index, rating cities across the United States on 25 different factors related to both sexual orientation and gender identity.

Eight different cities across Kentucky were included in this year's ratings, with their scores ranging from a low of 18 to a high of 100 (out of 100). The Index includes some factors counted as "flex points" – additional items that are not part of the core 100 points, but that if present in that city could boost its score by up to 35 points. Theoretically, then, a city could score 135, but the Index doesn't report scores over 100.

Here are the total scores (core and flex) for the eight Kentucky cities:

And here is a table showing all the factors in the Index, and how each city scored on each factor. A green-colored cell indicates a perfect score for that category.

City	Score
Berea	35
Bowling Green	20
Covington	96
Frankfort	66
Lexington	100
Louisville	100
Morehead	55
Owensboro	18

Category	Points Available	Berea	Bowling Green	Covington	Frankfort	Lexington	Louisville	Morehead	Owensboro
Non-Discrimination Laws
Employment	10			8	10	8	8	8
Housing	10			10	10	10	10	8
Public accommodations	10			7	7	10	10	8
Flex: All-gender single occupancy facilities	2					1
Flex: Protects youth from conversion therapy	2			2		2	2
Municipality as Employer
Non-discrimination in city employment	14	14		14	14	14	14	14
Transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits	6						6
City contractor non- discrimination ordinance	6			6	2	6	6
Inclusive workplace	2			2		2
Flex: City employee domestic partner benefits	1			1		1	1
Municipal Services
Human rights commission	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Enforcement mechanism in human rights commission	2			2	2	2	2
LGBTQ+ liaison in city executive's office	5			5		5	5
Flex: Youth bullying prevention policy for city services	1
Flex: City provides services to/ supports LGBTQ+ youth	2			2		2
Flex: City provides services to/ supports LGBTQ+ experiencing homelessness	2					2	2
Flex: City provides services to/ supports LGBTQ+ older adults	2					2
Flex: City provides services to/ supports people living with HIV or AIDS	2					2	2
Flex: City provides services to/ supports the transgender community	2
Law Enforcement
LGBTQ+ police liaison or task force	10			10		10	10
Reported 2019 hate crimes statistics to the FBI	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Leadership on LGBTQ+ Equality
Leadership's public position on LGBTQ+ equality	5	3	2	5	2	5	5		1
Leadership's pro-equality legislative or policy efforts	3	1	1	3	2	3	3
Flex: Openly LGBTQ+ elected or appointed municipal leaders	2			2		2	2
Flex: City test limits of restrictive state law	3
Total Standard Points	100	35	20	89	66	92	96	55	18
Total Flex Points	35	0	0	7	0	14	9	0	0
TOTAL SCORE		35	20	96	66	100	100	55	18

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