The City of Hollywood received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s 2021 Municipal Equality Index (MEI). The MEI examines how inclusive municipal laws, polices and services are of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ people (LGBTQ+) who live and work there. Cities are rated based on non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement and leadership on LGBTQ+ equity.
The City of Hollywood joins 110 other cities across the U.S. that earned perfect scores, including nine others in Florida – Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Tallahassee, St. Petersburg, and Wellington.
The HRC scored the City on LGBTQ+ focused activities in five categories – non-discrimination laws, municipality as employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality. Examples of City initiatives that contributed to the perfect MEI score include: City Contractor Non-Discrimination Ordinance.
Appointed an LGBTQ+ Liaison in the City Manager’s Office
In recognition of PRIDE Month (June), the City and the LGBTQ+ Council held a Progress Pride flag raising ceremony at City Hall. The flag flew over City Hall for the month of June
Todd Delmay, President of the LGBTQ+ Council, Franchesca D’Amore and Jeff Rusnack from the Arts and Culture Center joined the City’s June 3, 2021 Director’s Meeting for a special screening of the short film “Open Dialogues Stories from the LGBT Community,” followed by a discussion by all in attendance.
LGBTQ+ Resource Guide was supplied to all employees, and posted on the employee intranet site. Human Resource staff also advised employees via email that the City’s health insurance administrator has resources available and links to such were posted on the employee intranet site
Information on Lesbian Visibility Day, National Transgender HIV Testing Day and National Youth HIV/Aids Awareness Day were posted to the City’s main social media sites
A resolution was passed that denounces hate and supports measures to combat discrimination, bigotry and extremism
A resolution was passed which recognizes and embraces our diverse cultural and ideological history and welcomes residents and visitors of all backgrounds and beliefs
Work continues with Todd Delmay, President of the LGBTQ+ Council to review current Procurement Ordinance to make more clear our inclusivity intent as well as other City Code Chapters, in particular Chapter 96, Human Rights; Housing Discrimination.
The 2021 MEI rated 506 municipalities of varying sizes drawn from every state in the nation. These include the 50 state capitals, the 200 largest cities in the United States, the five largest cities or municipalities in each state, the cities home to the state’s two largest public universities (including undergraduate and graduate enrollment), 75 cities and municipalities that have high proportions of same-sex couples and 98 cities selected by HRC and Equality Federation state groups members and supporters. Municipalities were rated on 49 criteria covering citywide non-discrimination protections, policies for municipal employees, city services, law enforcement, and the city’s leadership on LGBTQ+ equality.
