Nominations Sought for 2023 Bloomington Human Rights Award

Bloomington, Ind.–The Bloomington Human Rights Commission (BHRC) is seeking nominations for the 2023 Human Rights Award, recognizing an individual or group that has made specific, significant contributions to improving civil rights, human relations, or civility in our community.

The deadline for nominations, which are accepted online at https://bton.in/lzi72, is Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 5 p.m. The recipient(s) of the BHRC's Human Rights Award will be honored at a public ceremony later this year.

The BHRC especially welcomes nominations of people demonstrating success in ensuring rights to equal access to housing, employment, or education; equal access to community life for people with disabilities; and nominations of people or organizations who have done exemplary work and advocacy in increasing civility in our community.

“Governing equitably means protecting, upholding, and advancing human rights,” said Mayor John Hamilton. “Bloomington’s Human Rights Commission not only does this work themselves but educates and advocates while recognizing the people and groups in our community who are also increasing justice and equity in our community.”  

Past recipients of the Human Rights Award include Bloomington PRIDE, the Bloomington Police Department's Downtown Resource Officers, Bloomington High School North, Bloomington United, New Leaf/New Life, Charlie Dupree and Virginia Hall, Clarence and Frances Gilliam, the Council for Community Accessibility, Congressman Frank McCloskey, WFHB Radio, Doug Bauder, Lillian Casillas, Helen Harrell, Cindy Stone, the Reverend Bill Breeden, and Sandy Keller.

The mission of the BHRC is to protect human rights in Bloomington. The BHRC is designed to enforce Bloomington's Human Rights Ordinance in a fair and timely manner, educate community members about their rights and responsibilities under civil rights laws, raise awareness on all human rights issues, ensure that contractors and subcontractors on city jobs pay employees applicable common wages, ensure that the City, as an employer, governmental entity, and provider of public accommodations, complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and provide the community with information about the ADA.

The BHRC investigates allegations of discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, or education on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, housing status, or veteran status. It also investigates complaints of familial status discrimination in housing.

For the last eight years, Bloomington has been awarded a perfect score by the Human Rights Campaign on its Municipal Equality Index (MEI), the only city in Indiana to do so. The index evaluates how well a city supports the LGBTQ+ people who live and work there through its laws, policies, and services. Read more about the MEI at hrc.org/resources/municipal-equality-index. 

More information about the BHRC is available at bloomington.in.gov/boards/human-rights.  

Questions or to request a hard copy form, contact human.rights@bloomington.in.gov or 812-349-3426.