The Athens-Clarke County Unified Government has scored over 90% on the Human Rights Campaign’s municipal equality index for the first time, showing continued improvement on promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality.
As the largest nationwide organization working to promote LGBTQ+ equality, the Human Rights Campaign evaluates over 500 US cities every year on the inclusiveness of their laws, policies and services. This year, the ACC government scored 91 of a maximum 100 points, gaining credit for its non-discrimination ordinance and human relations commission. Athens also gained credit for reporting hate crime statistics to the FBI, something which not all city governments do.
As recently as 2020, the ACC government scored a dismal 29% in these yearly evaluations. By 2022, after the passage of the non-discrimination ordinance and human relations commission, Athens had raised its score all the way to 68%, with continued improvement since then.
ACCPD establishes an LGBTQ+ liaison position
The local government passed the 90% threshold this year after the creation of an LBGTQ+ liaison position within the ACC Police Department.
The officers serving as liaison “understand the experiences and challenges faced by LGBTQ+ individuals, help foster trust, build bridges and encourage [crime] reporting—especially in cases involving bias-motivated incidents,” says Officer Kayante Gresham, who serves as ACCPD’s LGBTQ+ liaison along with Master Communications Officer Randall Ramirez.
ACC Police Chief Jerry Saulters created the position in September 2024, appointing Gresham and Ramirez to be ACCPD’s first LGBTQ+ liaisons at that time. Their work involves attending LGBTQ+ advisory council meetings, coordinating and facilitating the department’s participation in Pride and other LGBTQ+ events throughout the region and monitoring LGBTQ+-related crime statistics and departmental responses.
“Having a designated liaison creates safe avenues for engagement and promotes positive relationships between community members and law enforcement,” Gresham told APN.
Ramirez emphasized the active nature of the work, saying that “while there is a need to listen [to LGBTQ+ community members], it can be more important to reach out.” Ramirez serves on the board of PFLAG Athens, an organization dedicated to “creating a caring, just and affirming world for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them,” according to its website.
Opportunities for further progress
Having a score of over 90% on the Human Rights Campaign’s municipal equality index marks the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government as one of the more accepting and inclusive local governments nationwide. However, there is still room to improve Athens’ score in the future.
For example, the ACC government still does not provide trans-inclusive healthcare benefits to employees and its workplace is not as inclusive as it could be, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Furthermore, there are no openly LGBTQ+ ACC Commissioners right now, which would help improve Athens’ score.
In the Human Rights Campaign’s opinion, ACC Commissioners have not gone out of their way to challenge or test the limits of restrictive laws passed on the state level in Georgia, which could have gained the local government bonus points.
All things considered, the local government’s 91% score shows a commitment to equality and inclusion that few municipalities across the state can match.
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