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Eight KY cities rated on equality – how did yours do?

The Human Rights Campaign has released their 2021 Municipal Equality Index, rating cities on 25 different factors related to both sexual orientation and gender identity. Eight different cities across Kentucky were included, with their scores ranging from a low of 18 to a high of 100.

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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.

CityScore
Berea35
Bowling Green20
Covington96
Frankfort66
Lexington100
Louisville100
Morehead55
Owensboro18
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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