Fresno’s LGBTQ-friendliness is lacking, new report from Human Rights Campaign says
When it comes to LGBTQ-friendly policies and ordinances, Fresno is lacking, according to a new report released Tuesday.
The Human Rights Campaign awarded Fresno a total of 55 points, out of 100 possible, in its annual report on anti-discrimination policies in local government.
The Municipal Equality Index rates 506 cities across the country, examining local, county and state-level laws and policies that affect LGBTQ people.
Cities are rated in five different categories: Non-Discrimination Laws, Municipality as Employer, Municipal Services, Law Enforcement and Leadership on LGBTQ Equality.
Cities can also earn up to 22 “bonus points” which can boost the city’s ultimate ranking.
The average city scored a 60 overall, while just 88 cities received a perfect score of 100.
Of almost 60 California cities included in the HRC report, only three – Brisbane, Ontario and San Bernardino – had lower scores than Fresno.
The report said that Fresno fell short in several categories: It lacks protections for gender identity expression, it has no human rights commission, no LGBTQ liaisons to city hall or the police department and no leadership on LGBTQ issues.
Jason Scott, president of LGBT Fresno, a local nonprofit organization, said the city’s below-average score doesn’t come as a surprise to him.
But, he said the HRC’s report may be off the mark in a few areas. “We have an LGBT community leader who sits on the police advisory board,” he said. “And to say there’s not any leadership for the (LGBTQ) community in the city would not be accurate.”
“But we definitely have a lot of struggles in the Fresno area,” he said. “We don’t have much communication with City Hall directly on issues that affect us. That’s something that I and other community activists continue to work toward. It’s something that also has to come not only from members of our community, but also citizens in general to let leaders know they are about a broad range of issues, including issues that affect our community.”
Scott expressed concern about a lack of communication from the Fresno County District Attorney’s office. He said he’s not aware of any homicides targeting the LGBTQ community that have been prosecuted as hate crimes.
Including two homicides of transgender women in Fresno – the 2015 death of Casey Haggard and the 2017 murder of Imer Alvarado – Fresno County has experienced 32 incidents of violent crime reported to law enforcement as hate crimes between 2010 and 2018, according to the state Department of Justice.
Those range from intimidation and simple assault to aggravated assault, robbery and homicide.
During the same nine-year span, 14 property crimes such as graffiti or damage to vehicles were reported in Fresno County as hate crimes related to sexual orientation or gender nonconformity.
Despite those concerns and ongoing incidents of harassment or discrimination including denial of services to people by some businesses, Scott added, he believes there has been progress in terms of greater acceptance of LGBTQ people in Fresno.
He noted Fresno’s Pride Parade, which is organized by other groups, as an example. “The big companies and businesses are more welcoming and more willing to give funds than ever before,” he said. “Not that many years ago, there would be people coming to protest the fact that a parade or festival could even happen in this city.”
Fresno was also without a dedicated community center for the LGBTQ community for about two years after the closure of the Fresno LGBT Community Center on Fulton Street in August 2017. Scott said a new facility, the Fresno Spectrum Center, opened this summer on Blackstone Avenue. “It’s smaller in size, but it opened out of the need that went unfulfilled when the last space closed down,” he said.
