Greensboro Gets High Marks for LGBT-Friendly Policies

The City of Greensboro is the most inclusive place in North Carolina for the LGBT community. That's according to the Human Rights Campaign, which studied eight cities across the state.

The advocacy group's 2015 Municipal Equality Index rated more than 400 American cities on whether or not they had LGBT-specific policies in place: things like non-discrimination laws, access to services, and inclusiveness for all municipal employees.

On a scale of zero to 100, North Carolina averaged 49 points. But Greensboro scored 85, making it easily the highest-rated city in the state.

Cathryn Oakley is the report's author. She says Greensboro's housing discrimination law is just one of many factors that make the city stand out.

Oakley says the needs of the LGBT community can sometimes be unique, and that leaders everywhere are starting to take those needs seriously.

“We're seeing that cities across the country are really turning their attention to matters of equality and are thinking about ways their cities can be more inclusive,” Oakley said.

Not every North Carolina city fared so well, though. The next highest rated cities were Charlotte, Durham and Raleigh at 60, near the national average.

Here in the Triad, Winston-Salem scored 33 points, in the bottom half of the eight cities the HRC studied.

It's not all bad news, though – the city's police department does report its hate crime statistics to the FBI, for example. And it scored relatively well in including LGBT individuals in community services.

Oakley says the lack of specific discrimination protections and an LGBT police liaison pulled Winston-Salem's score down significantly. But she notes that it's still better than many communities.

“It's much higher than zero,” she said. “It means there are people out there doing this work, and every city has a path that they need to be continuing on in order to make their cities more inclusive.”