San Antonio earns perfect score in LGBTQ equality metric, new report says

A recent Human Rights Campaign ranking gave San Antonio a perfect score in LGBTQ equality. A recent Human Rights Campaign ranking gave San Antonio a perfect score in LGBTQ equality. Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close San Antonio earns perfect score in LGBTQ equality metric, new report says 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

San Antonio this year received its first perfect score in a Human Rights Campaign ranking of how friendly cities are to their LGBTQ communities but the Alamo City has been steadily improving its grade for years.

The score was part of the Human Rights Campaigns’ annual “Municipal Equality Index,” which ranks cities based on their non-discrimination laws, employee benefits and protections, services and programs for LGBTQ constituents, relationship with law enforcement and relationship with city and community leaders.

"For LGBTQ Texans, legal protections and services vary widely depending on where you call home," Pride Center San Antonio Executive Director Robert Salcido said in an email. "The City of San Antonio and local LGBTQ+ serving organizations have been intentional with our conversations and actions to strengthen our community in recent years."

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San Antonio scored a 95 in 2017, so this year's perfect score was partially a result of changes implemented within the past year.

Salcido pointed to increased services for LGBTQ seniors at the city's senior centers, added policy language around anti-LGBTQ bullying for youth programs and facilities and an LGBTQ Community Advisory Team structured by the mayor's office as some contributing factors. He said growing relations between the community and city officials as well as increased representation on city boards and commissions also helped the city improve over the past year.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who has been in office since June 2017, said achieving a perfect scorecard had been one of his goals.

"I am proud that San Antonio has made it," he said in a statement. "We have come a long way in recognizing human rights over the last few years, and I am determined to continue enhancing our equal rights efforts."

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San Antonio joined Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth at the top of the list. Houston came in fifth with 70 points. Corpus Christi scored 48 points and Laredo came in dead last with 0. On average, the 25 ranked cities in Texas scored a 39.56, nearly 20 points lower than the national average of 58 points.

"Not all cities are created equal," the report said, acknowledging that city size and state laws — among other factors — could make it more difficult for some cities to achieve high scores. The report used bonus points to reward cities that implemented LGBTQ-positive programs without penalizing cities that didn't.

View the full report for more information on methodology and individual state rankings.

S. M. Chavey is a staff writer for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here. | sarah.chavey@express-news.net | 210-250-3122 | Twitter: @smchavey