Hometown Shame
A not-so fabulous snub: Houston denied spot in Top Gay Friendly City rankings due to equal rights issues
Two Texas cites have been ranked among the most LGBT-friendly places in America in a new survey — but Houston isn't one of them.
Despite electing the first openly lesbian mayor of a major American city and having the sixth largest gay population in the nation, Houston was left off of NerdWallet's list of the Top 20 Most Gay-Friendly Cities.
Despite electing the first openly lesbian mayor of a major American city and having the sixth largest gay population in the nation, Houston was left off the list.
To compile its rankings, the website considered the percentage of households with same-sex partners, the presence of LGBT-friendly laws — no doubt, Houston's previous lack of an equal rights ordinance hurt its ranking— and tolerance and safety issues such as hate crimes targeting LGBT people.
Austin ranks No. 7 on the list. It's home to the Austin Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and boasts one of the lowest rates of hate crimes against LGBT people.
Dallas comes in at No. 17, just behind San Diego and ahead of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Sacramento. Both Dallas and Austin have 1.2 percent of households with same-sex partners.
On a scale of 100, Austin earned an 80.9 and Dallas scored a 72.9.
We had to contact NerdWallet to find out where Houston ranks on the list — and it's a lowly 46th, with a score of 57.05. The Bayou City scores well on the low number of hate crimes (.28 per 100,000) but ranks poorly on the number of same sex households (.5 percent) and LBGT-friendly laws and opportunity, scoring 63 on the Human Rights Campaign Equality Index (Austin ranks 100 and Dallas 85 in that category).
The No.1-ranking went to Seattle, which has 2.6 percent of residents in same-sex households and an overall score of 96.8. San Francisco and Atlanta rounded out the top three.
