The City Council meets in City Hall on Tuesday nights to discuss current College Park issues.

In 2013, College Park ranked third among five cities in this state in the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index, which grades cities based on LGBT inclusiveness.

This year, the College Park City Council plans to score even higher.

“There’s value for the city in having a high score,” said District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn. “People look to Human Rights Campaign to be the measure for LGBT equality on a number of issues.”

The city scored a 62 out of 100 in 2013, losing points in the “municipality as employer,” “municipal services” and “ municipality as law enforcement” categories. The national average was 57, Brennan said.

At the City Council worksession Tuesday, Wojahn and District 2 Councilman P.J. Brennan presented recommendations for bringing the city’s score up to 83. Both men have identified themselves as gay.

“We can always do better,” Wojahn said. “If you look at the score we got last year, as a grade at UMD, we would be failing. Not to say we are doing poorly, but there are some very simple steps we can take to increase that.”

Wojahn proposed the city charter be amended to include nondiscrimination policies for gender identity and sexual orientation, which would earn five points for the city.

“It’s not only about the score,” Brennan said. “It sends a message — if you’re someone who wants to live in an inclusive community, College Park is the place to come.”

On a recent trip to Montreal, Wojahn said he saw the city’s nondiscrimination policy enshrined in a stone sculpture outside of City Hall.

“It’s so important they’ve engraved it,” he said. “While I’m not suggesting we do that here, at minimum we should put it in our city charter.”

Other recommendations for improvement included establishing an LGBT liaison with both the University Police and Prince George’s County Police, which would add eight points for the city. Wojahn and Brennan also recommended that the council appoint a staff member to serve as the city manager’s LGBT community liaison.

However, District 3 Councilman Robert Day said doing so could be a start down a slippery slope.

“We need to be careful when we create liaisons for certain groups of people,” Day said. “I can name 10 groups who would want their own liaison. We need to be fair to everyone. We need to be careful how we go down this road. I don’t want to do this just for points.”

District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said she agrees with Day and that liaisons don’t seem necessary in College Park. She said citizens with concerns could simply approach the council members, who reflect the city’s diversity with a mix of sexualities, races and ethnicities.

“While large cities like Annapolis and Baltimore have these positions, it might not make sense for a small city like ourselves,” Stullich said. “I think we are a welcoming and inclusive city, and I think we can and will continue to be without a liaison.”

Brennan, however, said it was important for the council to be intentional with the public message it wants to send the LGBT community.

Beyond the liaisons, Wojahn is also looking into the feasibility of adding trans-inclusive health benefits to the city’s insurance plan.

“This would be an added expense for the city so we won’t bring it up now,” he said. “We’ll have further discussion around budget time, when we discuss benefits and health insurance.”

The council will continue the discussion and vote on the nondiscrimination policy addition at next week’s meeting.

“The purpose of reviewing the MEI scorecard is to get an understanding of where the city of College Park stands and where it can go in regards to improving policies that affect the LGBT community,” Brennan said.

For more on the LGBT community, check out Josh Magness’ blog, “Queer the Turtle.”

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