Iowa City – The City of Iowa City sent out a press release announcing a press conference to be in the City’s Council Chambers on November 19, 2019. No additional information was provided. The nature of the announcement was a well-guarded secret. The subject of the press conference wasn’t clear until attendees got closer to City Hall and noticed the Rainbow Flag hanging outside the main entrance to City Hall.

Once in the council chambers, it was quick to see that we were about to receive a significant announcement. It was clear by merely recognizing the number of dignitaries, including Iowa City Mayor Jim Throgmorton.

HRC sent dignitaries as well. They were there to inform the community that once again, Iowa City earned a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Metropolitan Equality Index scorecard (MEI). As the HRC representative stated, “this is no simple feat. Every year it’s it becomes harder and harder to score a perfect score.” This was Iowa City’s sixth straight score of 100.

Iowa City was joined by Cedar Rapids and Dubuque as the only other communities in Iowa to score 100. HRC scored a total of nine cities in Iowa.

Iowa City was joined by Cedar Rapids and Dubuque as the only other communities in Iowa to score 100. HRC scored a total of nine cities in Iowa.

Iowa City council member at large Bruce Teague summed up the day this way, “Iowa City has allowed me to thrive and grow and thrive and now I’m a member city council as the first openly gay member of this body.”

Complete information on the MEI index can be found at https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/HRC-MEI2019-final.pdf. GG