MORGANTOWN – What if I told you that a metric used to gauge municipal efforts in championing LGBTQ+-inclusive laws, policies and services rated Morgantown ahead of Miami, Portland and San Francisco?
It’s true, according to the Human Rights Campaign..
The HRC is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization and the driving force behind the annual publication of the Municipal Equality Index, the only nationwide assessment that rates cities on their efforts toward non-discrimination laws, policies as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality.
The 2025 edition of the MEI saw 132 of the 506 cities surveyed achieve a “perfect” score of 100. Morgantown was West Virginia’s only representative in that category this year.
However, while 100 is the maximum official point total, cities are also able to accumulate up to 22 “flex points,” awarded for efforts like testing the limits of restrictive state laws or providing single-occupancy, all-gender facilities, among many others.
For the competitive, this means the unofficial perfect score is 122. Only one city in America, Madison, Wisconsin, hit that number.
Morgantown ended up at 115, up from 110 in 2024 and a low of 42 when the MEI was initiated more than a decade ago.
This year’s total puts Morgantown in the top 3% nationally, tying six other cities with the ninth highest total overall.
Morgantown’s MEI score has been a years-long focus of the Morgantown Human Rights Commission. HRC Chair Annie Cronan Yorick said she logged some 150 volunteer hours putting this year’s report together.
Cronan Yorick noted Morgantown is both the smallest city to achieve such a score and the only one in a “solidly red,” or Republican-dominated state.
That said, she concedes not everyone will celebrate the city’s efforts.
“If you are solid red and hold particular conservative values, you probably don’t believe it helps us at all, but Morgantown is far different to every place in West Virginia outside of Huntington, which is probably the closest to us in values,” Cronan Yorick said.
Huntington ended up with a score of 93, down from 101 in 2024, matching an overall downward trend in the survey this year.
“We have all kinds of ordinances that protect human rights, and a human rights commission that is quite active. So, it helps because it reinforces that we put our money where our mouth is – that we are living out the values that we have legislated. When we have the Pride Block Party and the Pride Parade, that means something, and we support that as a city,” Cronan Yorick said.
Among the efforts undertaken by the city in recent years include the creation of LGBTQ+ liaison positions with city administration and the Morgantown Police Department, a ban on the practice of conversion therapy for youth within the city, and the formation of a citizen review board on policing.
Cronan Yorick said she’s proud of the city’s standing and the numerous steps it’s taken over the years, and explained she would like to see this used more as a selling point to draw in folks looking to live, work and play in an inclusive city.
“It seems like revenue is a big deal here, as it probably is everywhere,” she said. “We are gay friendly. That’s what this score says, right? So, why is it not used as a marketing tool? Own it. Love it, and maybe make some money off it, if that’s how you’re inclined.”
Additional information is available at hrc.org.
By the numbers
The 2025 Municipal Equality Index included 506 cities. That number represents the 200 largest cities in the country; all 50 state capitals; the five largest cities in each state; 75 cities (25 each) categorized as small, medium and large with the highest proportion of same-sex couples; the cities home to each state’s two largest public universities, and 98 cities selected by the HRC & Equality Federation state group members and supporters.
Cities scoring higher than Morgantown: Madison (122); Boulder, Colorado (119); New York (118); Cambridge, Massachusetts (118); Seattle (118); Palm Springs, California (117); Boston (117); Virginia Beach, Virginia (117); Denver (116); Arlington County, Virginia (116).
West Virginia cities included in the survey: Morgantown (115); Charleston (96); Huntington (93); Wheeling (62); Charles Town (48); Lewisburg (36); and Parkersburg (12).
