An annual ranking of how well large cities support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans shows that Iowa’s seven largest cities are doing better than the national average.

The Municipal Equality Index, a nationwide rating of LGBT inclusion in municipal law and policy, is compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights groupworking to pass national legislation extending non-discrimination protections to LGBT Americans.

Davenport and Iowa City were among 47 U.S. cities that earned perfect scores of 100. All seven of the Iowa cities rated scored higher than the national average of 56: Cedar Rapids, 99; Sioux City, 83; Des Moines, 82; Ames, 70; and Waterloo, 62.

 

Des Moines earned perfect scores in categories that looked at non-discrimination laws concerning employment, housing and public accommodations, and in regard to whether its police department has an LGBT task force or liaison and whether it reported hate crimes to the FBI.

It earned seven out of eight points in the category of “Relationship to LGBT community” in terms of city leadership’s public, legislative or policy positions on LGBT equality. It lost points in the category of whether the city offers transgender health care benefits to municipal employees, and it failed to earn bonus points awarded for having city programs that provide servicesspecifically to LGBT youth, homeless and elderly as well as to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Read more about all of the scores for Iowa cities here.