Mayor's LGBTQ Advisory Council meeting on Nov 5

The Erie Mayor's LGBTQIA+ Advisory Council meet on Thursday November 5 via Zoom. Chief of Staff Renee Lamis gave an update on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Municipal Equality Index (HRC) for the City of Erie. Our score had not been finalized as of the meeting. There has been some improvement since last year. We are seeking clarification about some topics, and may also consider some programming about the importance of reporting hate crimes. There are also an update on the response rate for the 2020 US Census. The US Supreme Court stopped the census data collection earlier than originally planned.

Emily Crofoot has taken over as lead for the Youth action team and they are basically starting over. The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) action reported there is an RDP for a DEI consultant for the City of Erie, and also Erie Better Together is looking to hire a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion rep, who will be looking at county level programs, as well as working with the City of Erie DEI consultant. The DEI team participated with the ice cream social with the Erie Police Department and the Cops and Kids event at Second Baptist Church. There were no current updates from the Health Care, Aging, or Education & Policy action teams.

The council thanked Kyle for leading the process to send a letter to Senator Toomey opposing the recent Supreme Court nomination to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the results of the November general election were known.

Also shared were reminders about the Virtual E3 Youth Summit that Greater Erie Alliance for Equality was having November 20 & 21, a survey being conducted by Safe Journey to better serve needs of the LGBTQIA+ community in the area of domestic violence, a survey being conducted by Erie County to improve COVID-19 messaging to various communities, including the LGBTQIA+ community, and a request from Erie County HIV Task Force for video submissions from organizations for a virtual World AIDS Day presentation.