Jackson leads state in Municipal Equality Index for LGBTQ services, laws and policies
Jackson once again had Mississippi’s highest score on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index. The index rates municipal policies, laws and services affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
The 2022 Municipal Equality Index has been released as hostility steadily rises to LGBTQ+ people across the nation.
The state’s capital dipped from a score of 80 in 2020 and 2021, falling nine points this year.
Starkville was second in Mississippi, with a 43 on a 100-point scale. That was an improvement from a year ago, when it scored a 31. Hattiesburg scored a 38 to finish third in the state this year, maintaining its score from last year.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves unveiled priorities for next year’s legislative session, including what he called a "Parents' Bill of Rights," which he said would allow parents to determine what pronouns their children should be called in public school. In November, the US Senate passed bipartisan legislation to protect same-sex marriages, but both Mississippi Senators, Republicans Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, were among the 36 who voted against the bill.
Despite this, the municipal equality index shows that 2022 had more perfect scores, a higher overall average than 2021 and 75% of scores being better than 51 points.
"Once again, the MEI has shown that regardless of what’s happening in state legislatures, local leaders understand the ongoing need to ensure that the people in their communities are safe, seen, and served," the reports conclusion reads.
For the first time since 2015, the city of Southaven, outside of Memphis, has scored points on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index. Before this year, Southaven, which has been rated in the report since at least 2015, had never scored more than a zero. A zero score means that a municipality does not have any laws, policies, or services that support LGBTQ people.
Across the state border in Tennessee, Memphis community members gathered in late November for a candle lit vigil hosted by OUTMemphis in honor of those killed in Colorado Springs, including a person from Mississippi.
Southaven scored twelve points on the 2022 HRC Municipal Equality Index for reporting 2020 hate crime statistics to the FBI. The FBI releases hate crime statistics every year in November and, while the FBI is required by federal law to collect hate crime data from state, local, tribal and university law enforcement, those agencies are not required to submit data to the FBI.
Officials from the Southaven Police Department could not be reached for comment.
In 2021, Southaven was one of eight cities in the nation and the only one out of the nine cities ranked in Mississippi to score zero points. In 2022, only six cities scored a zero. With 12 points, Southaven scored more points than Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs, which scored three and five points respectively.
Last year, Rob Hill, the state director of HRC Mississippi, told The Commercial Appeal that it wouldn't take much for Southaven to improve its score. The city can do any number of things to score more points in 2023, including but not limited to, appointing an LGBTQ+ liaison from the police force to the mayor's office, appointing a liaison within the mayor's office to the mayor himself, recognizing pride month, passing a nondiscrimination ordinance or passing a nondiscrimination policy for the city employees themselves.
"We’re not saying that LGBTQ people in this city need anything special, any special rights or special recognition, we just want the same rights and recognition that everybody else gets," Hill said.
Mississippi cities scored on LGBTQ+ inclusiveness:
Bay St. Louis: 3
Biloxi: 30
Gulfport: 13
Hattiesburg: 38
Jackson: 71
Ocean Springs: 5
Oxford: 18
Southaven: 12
Starkville: 43
The Commercial Appeal in Memphis contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson leads state in Municipal Equality Index for LGBTQ services, laws
