A year ago, the Human Rights campaign scored Shreveport 16 out of a possible 100 on the Municipal Equality Index (MEI), a low score by all standards. In most categories last year, such as nondiscrimination, relationship recognition, and law enforcement, we earned zero points. All of our points in 2013 essentially came from the city’s relationship with the LGBT community, no doubt spearheaded by organizations like P.A.C.E. Louisiana.
However, in a surprising turn, 2014 showed a marked improvement for our city to a total of 47 points. Even if we’re still scoring an “F” overall, that’s a damn big leap for just one year by anyone’s standards. We got a perfect score for nondiscrimination against LGBT community members in Employment, Housing, and Public Accommodation categories. HRC thinks we can do better by having our city government include Transgender-Inclusive Healthcare Benefits, Legal Dependent Benefits, and Equivalent Family Leave. We could score 10 big points if the Shreveport Police Department would submit LGBT hate crimes in 2012 to the FBI.
There’s a lot to do, but we can all raise a glass to the progress thus far. Congrats to all!
Photo snatched from the PACE Louisiana Page on Facebook.