Page last updated on December 27, 2022 at 3:44 pm
Each week, Mayor Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Griffin provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives. Access all of the weekly video updates at bloomington.in.gov/videoupdates.
In this week's video update, Deputy Mayor Don Griffin and Human Rights Director/Assistant City Attorney Barbara McKinney discuss the City’s recent eighth perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Index.
Bloomington is the only city in Indiana to achieve a 100% score. It is one of four cities in Indiana to be considered an “MEI All-Star,” earning a high score in a state that lacks non-discrimination laws that expressly include LGBTQ+ people.
Bloomington was one of 120 cities in the U.S. to earn a perfect score this year, up from 110 cities last year.
Earilier this month, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation (hrc.org), in partnership with the Equality Federation (equalityfederation.org), announced that Bloomington had been awarded a perfect score on the annual Municipal Equality Index (MEI). Now in its eleventh year, the index of 506 cities nationwide uses 49 criteria to evaluate how inclusive a city’s laws, policies, and services are of the LGBTQ+ people who live and work there.
Bloomington’s scorecard is available online at https://bton.in/NhsF8, and the full 2022 Municipal Equality Index Report is available at https://bton.in/1k8B8.
A special thanks to Don and Barbara as today marks Don’s last video as Deputy Mayor, and Barbara will retire from the City after 34 years of service on December 30.
Transcript
Don Griffin:
Hello again, folks. It's me, Don Griffin, Deputy Mayor for the City of Bloomington, and I'm here with...
Barbara McKinney:
Barbara McKinney. I'm an assistant city attorney, and I'm also the director of the Bloomington Human Rights Commission.
Don Griffin:
And today we're going to talk about the MEI or ME Index.
Barbara McKinney:
Right. And that's the Municipal Equality Index. It's something the Human Rights Campaign uses to look at cities around the country to see how well they're doing as far as being inclusive to the LGBTQIA community.
Don Griffin:
Okay. So, what are some of the criteria that they use?
Barbara McKinney:
They use a number of criteria. One, they want to make sure that the city itself does not discriminate in employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Bloomington met that criteria a long time ago. We also require that contractors who are doing business for the city, they also have to say they don't discriminate on those bases in their employment. So, we're kind of spreading the word about non-discrimination throughout the community, but making our contractors do that, as well. They also look, does the city offer domestic partnership benefits? We do.
Don Griffin:
Okay.
Barbara McKinney:
Do we offer insurance benefits for people who are transitioning from one sex to another? And we do that, as well.
Don Griffin:
Okay. So, eight consecutive years of recognition. What does it mean to be a MEI all-star?
Barbara McKinney:
That's something they use to give cities a little bit of extra credit if they're in a state that it's not exactly super gay-friendly like Indiana, but they want to recognize communities that are doing everything they can at the local level. And Bloomington with its perfect score for eight years, is certainly doing that.
Don Griffin:
And you've been at the helm for longer than eight years, right?
Barbara McKinney:
Right. For 34 years. Yes.
Don Griffin:
34 years?
Barbara McKinney:
Yeah. Yeah.
Don Griffin:
Oh my gosh.
Barbara McKinney:
I started when I was four. Yeah.
Don Griffin:
And you've got two weeks left, right?
Barbara McKinney:
Exactly. Yeah.
Don Griffin:
Okay. Well, thank you for your service. You've been a treasure for Bloomington and the folks outside of working in the city and the folks within the city working here in this building.
Barbara McKinney:
Well, thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.
Don Griffin:
So tell us about some of the criteria. You gave us a few criteria for this MEI initiative, but what else do we have that supports-
Barbara McKinney:
Well, I think one that's really important is that our Bloomington Police Department reports hate crimes to the FBI.
Don Griffin:
Okay.
Barbara McKinney:
That is something that state law requires all communities to do in Indiana, but there's no punishment if you don't. There's no deterrence to not doing it. So, a lot of communities, I think, would rather not report that and not publicize a problem and just kind of pretend like it doesn't happen. Bloomington has always been very good at reporting that, and you can't see how big the problem is and what the solutions are until you know what the problem is. And so you need that data to do that.
Don Griffin:
So, a lot of amazing work that you've done, and we'll just continue on the path forward.
Barbara McKinney:
I think so, yeah. And I think we've laid a good basis, and I'm really interested to see where things go in the future.
Don Griffin:
Fantastic. Folks, if you have any other questions in regards to our Human Rights Commission, please look on our website at the city, and maybe some of your questions will be answered. Have a good one.