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Northampton Gets Perfect Score For Policies On Homosexuality and Transgenderism

December 4, 2022

The city of Northampton has gotten a perfect score of 100 from the pro-homosexuality and pro-transgenderism Human Rights Campaign.

The city government got points for providing services to transgender people, having a liaison with the city’s police department on how police deal with homosexuals and transgender people, protecting youth from conversion therapy, providing domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples, having elected or appointed homosexual or transgender city officials, and reporting hate crimes statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other things, according to the organization’s Municipal Equality Index.

Conversion therapy seeking to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of minors 17 and younger has been illegal in Massachusetts since Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill into law banning it in April 2019.

“We’re proud to announce that Northampton has once again earned a 100 on HRC’s 2022 Municipal Equality Index! This will mark the fifth year in a row. Our city will continue working to ensure our LGBTQ+ community is safe, welcomed and respected,” the city said in a written statement on Twitter on Wednesday, November 30.

The city got only an 89 in 2017. That year the city got only partial credit for municipal services, for how it treated employees concerning homosexuality and transgenderism, and for its “Relationship with LGBTQ Community.”

“The City of Northampton and the Mayor’s office have worked hard to institute the changes necessary to raise its MEI from 89 in 2017 to attain a perfect score for the past five years,” said Court Cline, the mayor’s Executive Liaison to the LGBTQA+ Community, in a written statement on Wednesday, November 30.

Human Rights Campaign recently issued its 2022 Municipality Equality Index.

The letters sign in “LGBTQ+” stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and either queer or questioning. The plus sign stands allied statuses not included in the letters.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reported the city’s perfect score on Friday, December 2.

Other municipalities in Massachusetts included in Human Rights Campaign’s 2022 Municipal Equality Index are Amherst, Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Provincetown, Salem, Springfield, and Worcester.

The organization gave perfect scores of 100 to Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Provincetown, Salem, and Worcester.

Among the others, Amherst got a 75; Springfield got a 70; Lowell got a 50.

 

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