Iowa City, Davenport get highest scores in national LGBT assessments

IOWA CITY - A national civil rights group's assessment of LGBT equality in more than 400 U.S. cities gives two of the state's communities perfect scores - Iowa City and Davenport.

Cedar Rapids narrowly missed the top score of 100 with a 99, but increased its rating substantially from the 2014 score of 68.

This year, Cedar Rapids fared better in the group's eyes in ratings of the city government being a welcoming place to work and law enforcement having a respectful relationship with the LGBT community.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, on Thursday released its fourth annual report on LGBT equality in 408 cities across the country.

The assessment, which rates cities on LGBT inclusion in municipal law, policy and other measures, found that Iowa City and Davenport were two of only 47 cities assessed nationwide as earning perfect 100 scores.

Iowa City scored 100 last year also, but Davenport's rating increased from 86 - partly through higher ratings for city support for LGBT homeless people and youth.

Stefanie Bowers, Iowa City's equity director, said a perfect score helps showcase local efforts of inclusion and support, but added that the work is never done.

'It's always good to hear that we're doing well, but having said that, it's a continuum and we're always trying to improve,” she said. 'We're always trying to improve our services, (and) evaluations and score cards like this assist in our efforts.”

Some local efforts include Iowa City's non-discrimination ordinance, an LGBT liaison to city executives and city funding geared to providing services to LGBT youth and elderly, Bowers said.

Iowa cities to score next behind Iowa City, Davenport and Cedar Rapids were Sioux City (83, up from 61), Des Moines (82, down from 85), Ames (70, not rated last year) and Waterloo (62, also not rated last year).

All seven of the cities scored higher than the national average of 56.

Chad Simmons, executive director with Diversity Focus, a not-for-profit organization that promotes diversity awareness and inclusion in the Corridor, said the scores for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City coincide well the organization's mission to provide inclusion and prosperity for all residents.

'We continue to do things that show that we care about people and the success of our community,” Simmons said. 'Clearly we're not perfect if we got 99 out of 100. There's still one more to go.”

That said, Simmons also noted equality needs continuous focus.

'Even having a score of 100 doesn't mean that we're perfect,” he said, adding that one of the group's biggest accomplishments is its ability to work with other groups like city governments and school systems.

'When you really start taking a look at what allows us to be so successful, it's that we don't always agree, but we're always supportive of each other,” he said.

The Human Rights Campaign's assessment uses a 'municipal equality index” that rates cities based on 41 criteria in five categories including non-discrimination laws, municipal employment policies, inclusive city services, law enforcement and municipal leadership on matters of equality.

The 2015 assessment covered a number of communities including 50 state capitals, the 200 most populous cities in the country, the five largest cities in each state and an equal mix of 75 of the nation's large, mid-size and small municipalities with the highest proportion of same-sex couples.