Human Rights Campaign gives Sterling Heights high scores for improved LGBTQ+ inclusivity efforts

What’s up: As recently as 2019, the city of Sterling Heights received a paltry 8 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI). The scorecard evaluates the laws, policies and services that impact the lives of LGBTQ+ people in communities across the country. The city has put in the work and is now being recognized for their efforts, with Sterling Heights recently announcing that they received a 91 out of 100 score at MEI 2022. That’s an improvement of 83 points in three years.

What is it: The Human Rights Campaign’s 2022 Municipal Equality Index (MEI) evaluated 506 municipalities across the country on how inclusive their laws, policies and services are and how they affect the LGBTQ+ people who live and work there. It is a scorecard examining anti-discrimination laws, transgender-inclusive health services, and community services and programs that support the LGBTQ+ community.

How they did it: “When we received our 2019 scorecard, we knew that the score does not reflect who we are as an organization, much less our community. We acted immediately and started working internally to collect data and documentation for the human rights campaign. Our current score of 91 is a wonderful improvement given that we have many community members and some of our own employees who are part of the LGBTQ+ community,” said Kate Baldwin, Sterling Heights Human Resources Manager. “Since 2019 we have also launched additional initiatives. For example, our police department adapted their coding to capture reports of hate and bias, we launched our first-ever human rights commission called the CommUNITY Alliance, and the city recently started our own Diversity, Justice and Inclusion to provide a consistent DEI strategy to develop for the employees of the city.”

upward movement: After being rated 8 out of 100 in 2019, the city’s development has improved dramatically year after year. Sterling Heights would receive a score of 38 in 2020, 61 in 2021, and now 91 in 2022.

What you say: “We are thrilled to see that our efforts to promote equality and inclusion for all residents have been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign,” said Michael Taylor, Mayor of Sterling Heights. “We will continue to work hard to make Sterling Heights a welcoming and inclusive community for all.”

Do you have a development message to share? Email or tweet MJ Galbraith here @mikegalbraith.