Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s new Municipal Equality Index. San Antonio scored 95.
Houston, which repealed its nondiscrimination ordinance by popular vote, received a score of 75.
Nationwide, 68 cities scored 100, while 11 scored zero. Of the 25 cities evaluated in Texas, all received a score above zero. The state with the biggest increase this year over last was Alabama.
Texas cities that ranked high were listed as “All-Star Cities,” because those cities provide protections with no support from the state.
In the DFW area, Plano rated a 74, Arlington 44, Denton 44, Grand Prairie 24, Garland 22, Mesquite 21, McKinney 18 and Irving 6.
In the race to land Amazon’s new office complex, Frisco, without any public transportation and a refusal to participate in the MEI, should kiss its bid goodbye. Irving, although located adjacent to the airport and on a DART train line, will also suffer because of its discriminatory policies. Both Dallas and Fort Worth gain an advantage with their top scores in one of the half dozen categories Amazon said it was taking into consideration.
Five categories were considered in the ranking: non-discrimination laws, municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement and relationship with the LGBT community. Then bonus points were awarded for a number of items.
Dallas and Fort Worth lost points in the category of municipality as employer because neither offers trans health benefits. Both cities have been studying the issue for a number of years. In the case of Fort Worth, since the raid on the Rainbow Lounge.
Dallas lost some points under municipal services and Fort Worth lost points under relationship with the LGBT community. Both cities earned enough bonus points to score 100. Fort Worth actually got two more points than Dallas. While those points are reported — Dallas got a total of 105 points and Fort Worth 107 — the top score is 100.
Among the other largest states, California had seven cities with a score of 100, New York and Florida had four. Surprisingly, Fort Lauderdale received only an 87 and Key West wasn’t ranked. Massachusetts had five cities including Provincetown with a score of 100.
Click here for the full report.

— David Taffet