[Archived] City of Alexandria Receives 100% Score from Municipal Equality Index

­­For Immediate Release: December 8, 2020

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Equality Federation Institute announced on December 3 that the City of Alexandria received the maximum possible score of 100% on the ninth annual Municipal Equality Index. The scorecard rated 506 U.S. localities (including 11 in Virginia) on 49 criteria, including non-discrimination laws; each municipality as an employer; municipal services; law enforcement; local leadership's public positions on equality; and how inclusive municipal laws, policies and services are of LGBTQ people. Alexandria is among fewer than 1 in 5 localities in the U.S. to have earned the maximum score, and joins neighboring Arlington County as the only two such localities in Northern Virginia.

“Alexandria strives to be a welcoming and inclusive community for everyone who lives, works and visits here,” said Mayor Justin Wilson. “We have deliberately shaped our laws and policies to provide for fair and equitable treatment for all, and we urge other employers, landlords and businesses to build on this foundation. While we still have much work to do to achieve a fully equitable community, we are grateful for this national recognition that we have achieved much progress.”  

The Alexandria Human Rights Code was one of the first human rights ordinances in Virginia when it was enacted in 1975, and has been repeatedly expanded to protect more and more people. Alexandria and Arlington were singled out on the first page of the full Municipal Equality Index report’s executive summary for “boldly leading the way to equality” by recently strengthening protections for gender identity. Alexandria has been ranked in the index every year since it began in 2012, with consistently increasing scores. Among all states, Virginia localities had the second-highest overall increase (24%) from 2019 to 2020.

Visit alexandriava.gov/HumanRights for more information about human rights protections in Alexandria.

For inquiries from the news media only, contact Andrea Blackford, Senior Communications Officer, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.