In its latest bid to quantify cities' attitudes toward the LGBTQ community, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released its 2024 Municipal Equality Index (MEI), placing Fort Worth among the higher echelons with a score of 97 out of 100 despite a slight dip from its longstanding perfect score streak, which lasted eight years straight until this most recent assessment.
The MEI evaluates cities nationwide, measuring inclusivity across 49 criteria, spanning 506 cities. Previously, the City of Fort Worth has consistently hit the mark with a full score, only dropping a few points this year. Oddly, no immediate explanation for the dip has surfaced, nor has City Hall offered a statement on the, albeit minor, step back from LGBTQ inclusiveness perfection.
Scoring in the MEI is broken down into five categories, assessing non-discrimination laws to leadership on LGBTQ equality. According to Fort Worth's political landscape, the city hit full marks in non-discrimination laws with 30 out of 30 points and law enforcement with 22 out of 22 points. Nonetheless, it's in categories like the municipality's employment practices, where it scored 20 out of 28 points plus one bonus point, and leadership on LGBTQ equality, with five out of eight points plus three bonus points, where the city seems to have stumbled ever so slightly.
Other Texas cities didn't show any sign of letting up on their LGBTQ-friendly gas pedal, with Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Arlington each boasting a perfect score of 100 points. While Fort Worth didn't hit the bullseye this year, the city's overall scorecard still shines brighter than Houston's 83 points and El Paso's 69 points, showing a diverse spread in the state’s commitment to LGBTQ inclusivity.
