The following is a press release from the City of Santa Monica.
For the fifth consecutive year, the city of Santa Monica has earned a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, reflecting the city’s inclusive municipal laws, policies and services for LGBTQ+ people who live and work here.
The annual Municipal Equality Index, or MEI, rates cities based on non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services to the community and law enforcement and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality.
“Santa Monica strives to be a community where all are welcome, feel safe and can thrive,” Mayor Gleam Davis said. “I am grateful that our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community has again been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign this year.”
As part of its comprehensive effort surrounding equity and inclusion, Santa Monica employs community liaisons in several city departments, includes gender identity and sexual orientation as categories in all non-discrimination policies for staff and vendors, and regularly provides training to staff on understanding gender identity and sexual orientation.
Santa Monica was one of the first cities to be recognized for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in anti-bullying policy and training for all youth programs, and the city was one of the first in the state to require all new multi-stall bathrooms to be all gender.
For more information about MEI and to read Santa Monica’s scorecard, click here.
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