Accounting for City Size The MEI rates municipalities as small as Rehoboth Beach (population 1,373) and as large as New York City (8,336,700). Such a range in city size creates concerns about ensuring that the efforts of small cities are not diminished in comparison to the capabilities of large cities. fairness dictates that the Mei not measure small cities against a standard only the metropolitan giants of the country can meet. The MEI is designed to ensure that small cities have the same ability to score well on the MEI as larger cities do. First, while some of the criteria might be more challenging for a small city to accomplish, none of the non-bonus criteria are prohibitive for small cities. Further, flexibility was built into the scoring system to acknowledge that a small city may accomplish the criteria in a slightly different manner: for example, an LGBT liaison may have many other duties, and a Human Rights Commission might be all-volunteer.
In 2013, small cities boasted 3 perfect scores and 4 cities in the 90th percentile. 30
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Second, the MEI uses bonus points to ensure cities are not being held accountable for services that they simply are unable to provide. Points pertaining to a city’s infrastructure are generally bonus points and there often are multiple paths to earning the same set of points. A city can earn “Welcoming Workplace” bonus points
for LGBT-specific recruitment for city employment opportunities, but if the city is too small to actively recruit it can earn those same points either through an inclusive workplace diversity training or facilitating a Pride group for city employees. Having alternative paths to the same points and classifying some points as bonus accommodates the varying needs and capabilities of different sized cities. an analysis of the Mei’s results shows these efforts to accommodate small cities worked: small cities were able to score comparably with the large cities. Last year the data clearly showed that a city’s score was not well predicted by its size, and this year’s results show the same. In 2013, small cities (population under 100,000 people) boasted three perfect scores and four cities in the ninetieth percentile, with 42 percent of small cities scoring in the top half. Small cities averaged 53 points, narrowly beating the average of 52 points for medium sized cities (populations between 100,000 and 250,000), although both averaged less than large cities (more than 250,000 people) at 71 points. Small cities make up just over a third of all cities rated.
hrc.org/mei