September 29, 2015 City Manager A.C. Gonzalez Dallas City Hall 1500 Marilla St. Room 4EN Dallas, Texas 75201 Dear Mr. Gonzalez: I am writing to express the serious concerns of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) related to the recent release of Dallas' draft Municipal Equality Index (MEI) score. Last Monday, it came to our attention through an article published by the Dallas Observer that a city official publicly released Dallas' draft MEI score in a briefing to the City Council Budget, Finance and Audit Committee. Dallas' draft score was subsequently reported on by a number of additional media outlets. A central part of our research process involves providing cities with the opportunity to review their draft scorecard and provide feedback. As emphasized repeatedly through our past communications, these draft scorecards are offered for review as a courtesy with the trust that they will be kept confidential, and with the understanding that scores are not final and thus are subject to change prior to the MEI being published and officially released. On August 21st, HRC sent an email to all cities, including the City of Dallas, making our expectations of confidentiality very clear: “[A]s a reminder, your city's draft scorecard and feedback is to be kept entirely confidential...We believe that communicating fully and honestly with the cities being rated is a critical part of the project's success, and when cities compromise the confidence of the project, they do so at the expense of the other cities being rated.” Moreover, the header and footer of every draft scorecard the city has received notes in bold red print that the document is a "confidential draft [and is] not for publication." Needless to say, while HRC is encouraged by the pro-equality efforts Dallas has undertaken in the past year, we are deeply disappointed by the City's inappropriate breach of our terms of confidentiality. On a national project like the MEI, the implications of releasing draft scores extend well beyond the City. The City's unwillingness to abide by the rules creates challenges HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN 1640 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 P 202-628-4160 F 202-423-2861 HRC@HRC.ORG that detract from our primary goals of obtaining the most accurate data and offering the highest level of support to cities that are working to make their laws more inclusive. As a result of this, the MEI Team is exploring potential ways of penalizing cities for willfully breaching our terms of confidentiality. We sincerely hope that going forward, the City will make every effort to abide by the confidentiality that is so vital to the MEI and our shared goals. Sincerely, Sarah Warbelow Legal Director, Human Rights Campaign cc: Mayor Mike Rawlings Cheryl Orr, City Ethics and Diversity Officer Chuck Smith, Executive Director of Equality Texas HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN 1640 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036 P 202-628-4160 F 202-423-2861 HRC@HRC.ORG