Celebrate Morgantown, WV, score on the national LGBTQ equality index

The City of Morgantown scored 115 points out of a possible 122 points in the 2025 Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI) for support of the LGBTQ+ community, making it the smallest city to score in the top 3 percent of the evaluated cities. The Human Rights Campaign also awarded Morgantown “Gold Star City” status. The Community Coalition for Social Justice (CCSJ) and the West Virginia University Center for Community, Connections, and Culture are hosting a celebration of this success on Wednesday, October 7 from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. in the Gluck Theatre of the WVU Mountainlair. The event is free and open to the public. The program will open with welcoming comments from Mike Attfield, chair of CCSJ, and Javier McCoy, director of the WVU Center for Community, Connections, and Culture. Speakers will include Annie Cronan Yorick, Esq., who prepared the annual MEI reports for 2023-2025. She will discuss "How to Earn a Great Municipal Equality Index Score." Key aspects of the report are non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and the City’s leadership on LGBTQ+ equality. Center for Community, Connections, and Culture Program Specialist Julia Myers and Assistant Director Ti Bedunah will highlight the work of the Center and its focus on supporting the LGBTQ+ community. This includes Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) training, Safe Zone training, and upcoming programming for LGBTQ+ History Month in October. The Center aims to foster belonging, connection and holistic student success through programs, resources and engagement.” Executive director of Fairness West Virginia, Andrew Schneider, will present on the theme “Don't Stop Believing.” Schneider notes, “In challenging times like these, it's important to recognize in places like Morgantown that we can still take meaningful action toward attaining protections and representation for LGBTQ+ people in West Virginia. Fairness WV will nev