College Park was ranked one of the nation’s top cities for promoting equality among LGBTQ+ residents through its policies.

In an annual ranking by the Human Rights Campaign, the city scored a perfect 100 for policies on non-discrimination, municipal services and law enforcement.

Among other things, the city was recognized for barring discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation or gender identity; offering domestic partner benefits to its staff; and having a liaison to the LGBTQ+ community on the city police.

It also received credit for having an openly gay elected elected official, Mayor Patrick Wojahn, who was recently re-elected to a fourth term and has helped lead an effort to make the city a top college town.

College Park is one of 506 municipalities across the country that were ranked, including eight in Maryland. Columbia, Frederick and Gaithersburg also had perfect scores, while Baltimore scored 95 out of 100. Annapolis scored 79; Hagerstown, 68; and Bowie, 60.

In a separate ranking, the Campus Pride Index has gave the University of Maryland five stars out of five on an index of LGBTQ-friendly colleges.

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