The Human Rights Campaign and the Equality Federation awarded Bloomington its eighth consecutive perfect score on the annual Municipal Equality Index.
The index examines how “inclusive municipal laws, policies and services are of LGBTQ+ people who live and work there.” The MEI takes into account non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality, along with other criteria.
Out of 506 cities in the country, Bloomington is one of 120 to receive a perfect score. It is the only city in Indiana to do so, but three other cities in the state are considered an “MEI All-Star.”
“Which is kind of nice to be the only one, but it'd be nice to have some other cities catch up with us,” said Barbara McKinney, director of the Bloomington Human Rights Commission.
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McKinney said Bloomington has made a lot of changes to become a more LGBTQ+-friendly city. Years ago, they added sexual orientation and gender identity to their non-discrimination employment practices. The HRC also added criteria to label single-cell restrooms as ‘unisex,’ which the city incorporated.
Bathroom labels are a minor thing compared to anti-discrimination policies, but McKinney said those actions are just as important to show inclusivity.
Even though Bloomington has received eight perfect scores, McKinney said that there is more to be done.
“One thing I would like for us to look at is we do now have fairly inclusive health insurance benefits for people transitioning from one sex to another, one gender to another,” McKinney said. “And I would hope we can expand that, because I don't think it covers as much as it could.”
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Still, McKinney said she’s proud of what’s been accomplished.
“And according to [MEI] criteria, Bloomington is doing pretty well,” McKinney said. “So, we're proud of that.”
The Bloomington Human Rights Ordinance, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, disability, color, national origin, ancestry, gender identity, sexual orientation, veteran status or housing status in Bloomington, has jurisdiction over everything in the city limits, with the exception of Indiana University.
