Rockville has scored 100 marks for the city’s commitment to the health, welfare, safety and equality of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in its sixth year of participating, and the 11th year for the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index.
Rockville scored 95 out of 100, plus an additional 10 bonus points, for its nondiscrimination laws, law enforcement, employment and workplace inclusivity, leadership and services to the LGBTQ+ community. Final scores cannot exceed 100.
“LGBTQ+ people everywhere deserve to live in welcoming places that are focused on building equality for all,” said Jodee Winterhof, the Human Rights Campaign’s senior vice president of policy and political affairs. “Since its launch 11 years ago, the main priority of the Municipal Equality Index remains supporting and celebrating the work cities do to serve LGBTQ+ people in the places they call home.”
The 11th annual MEI scorecard, released in November, analyzes and rates 506 municipalities across the country, measuring each for the inclusivity of laws, policies and services for their LGBTQ communities. Cities rated include the 50 state capitals, the 200 largest cities in the U.S., the five largest cities or municipalities in each state, cities home to the state’s two largest public universities, 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.
Ranked cities include more than 92.6 million people. Cities are rated across numerous criteria, covering citywide nondiscrimination protections, policies for municipal employees, city services, law enforcement and the city’s leadership on LGBTQ equality.
Rockville’s MEI report can be found at hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/MEI-2022-Rockville-Maryland.pdf. Learn more about the MEI at www.hrc.org/resources/municipalities. Rockville was one of 10 Maryland municipalities and census-designated areas ranked, and one of six that scored full marks on the MEI.