The Results Are In On Arlington's LGBTQ+ Inclusion Grade For 2025

ARLINGTON, MA — The town announced its annual grade on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index.

The Municipal Equality Index rates a total of 506 cities on 49 different criteria from every state in the country. The results are formed based on how inclusive the organization municipal laws, policies, and services are for LGBTQ+ people. The five key evaluation categories are non-discrimination laws, municipal services, law enforcement, leadership on LGBTQ+ equality, and employer inclusion protocols.

Arlington scored a 97 out of a possible 100 in 2025. The town’s past scores were 98 in 2018, followed by 100 in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024. According to Town Manager Jim Feeney, the sole reason for the slight decrease in this year’s final tally is a reporting error that has since been resolved.
Arlington scored perfectly on the categories of non-discrimination laws and municipal services. The former is assessed by discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited by the community in things like employment, housing, and public accommodations. The latter is about whether or not an effort is made to include LGBTQ+ people in city services, programs, and local government. The town came up just short of perfect scores in the categories of municipality as employer and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality as it was knocked in the subcategories of inclusive workspace and pro-equality legislation efforts. The law enforcement category was the only one in which it did not score more than a 90 percent, as it received only 12 out of a possible 22 points for the town police department’s lack of a LGBTQ+ Liaison position or task force.

However, Arlington did score bonus or “flex” points throughout each category for things such as providing municipal services for the transgencer community and having openly LGBTQ+ people in leadership roles.

Town Manager Jim Feeney said Arington’s mission is to be a welcoming and inclusive community.

“The Arlington Rainbow Commission is proud to collaborate with our town partners and extended community to continue to make Arlington a safe and welcoming place to live and visit,” Arlington LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission co-Chair Molly Gillis said.

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