For the eighth year in a row, Wilton Manors lands on top of the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index annual report.
“The City of Wilton Manors is proud to have received a perfect MEI score for 2021 — the 8th consecutive year of achieving a perfect score. Wilton Manors makes a great effort to ensure that our local laws, policies, and services are inclusive and supportive of our LGBTQ+ community that lives and works here,” Vice Mayor of Wilton Manors Paul Rolli said. “I am so thankful that the Human Rights Campaign continues to recognize our leadership.”
Cities receive points based on their laws, policies, benefits and services. Some of the areas scored include “Law Enforcement” and “Municipal Services,” and “Leadership on LGBTQ Equality.”
This is the tenth annual municipal equality list HRC has compiled. Across the U.S. 110 cities earned perfect scores this year.
Chris Caputo, who was elected to the city commission in 2020, is proud of the designation.
“While we're incredibly proud of the fact that the City of Wilton Manors has once again achieved a perfect score on the HRC Municipal Index, we’re hard at work ensuring that our City is doing absolutely everything possible to support our LGBTQ+ residents and businesses,” Caputo said.
Several major LGBT organizations call Wilton Manors home including the Pride Center at Equality Park, SunServe and Latinos Salud.
Overall 11 cities in Florida received perfect scores. Those in South Florida include Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Oakland Park, West Palm Beach and Wellington. Elsewhere in the state include Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Tallahassee.
All of the ranked cities in South Florida improved their scores over last year, or their scores stayed the same.
Digging deeper into the report shows that even among cities that achieved a perfect score there are potential areas for improvement. Beyond the 100 points available, there are an additional 22 “flex” points that work like bonuses. So for instance cities that provide services to the transgender community receive two flex points. Only Wilton Manors in South Florida earned that bonus. However Wilton Manors did not receive any flex points for providing services to LGBT people experiencing homelessness.
Caputo took note of this as well.
“The HRC Municipal Index offers 22 possible ‘flex’ points that help municipalities achieve the perfect score of 100 points,” he said. “We earned 18 out of 22 possible flex points, so our focus now is reviewing opportunities to ensure we’re doing everything we can to truly live up to the vision we hold for our city as a municipal leader in the LGBTQ+ movement.”
The other category where Wilton Manors did not receive additional points was for not providing “Single-Occupancy All-Gender Facilities.”
More than 500 cities across the country were included in the report this year. Twenty-one cities in Florida were included.
“I am so proud to represent the residents of such a diverse and inclusive city,” said Wilton Manors Commissioner Mike Bracchi. “Wilton Manors was awarded a perfect 100 score and 18 bonus points for our highest ever raw score in the history of our ranking in the MEI."
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