Mississippi's Bigoted New Law Means the Mayor Can't Go To Pascagoula

The (third) USS Portland

UPDATE, 4/13: Mississippi's law might preclude Hales from going to Pascagoula, but nothing prevents the USS Portland from visiting its namesake. The Navy League of the United States wants to bring the Portland—the first USS Portland to be named specifically and only after PDX—to the city in Fall 2017 for the ship's commissioning, a formal ceremony that will usher the ship into active naval service.

Portland City Council listened to a presentation from the Navy League this morning on the commissioning, which the league says will involve all matter of pomp and pageantry.

"It's going to be a great thing for Portland," Hales said.

At any rate, it's way better than going to Mississippi.

Original post:

For the second week in a row, Portland's talking about banning city employees from traveling to a bigoted state, and this time Mayor Charlie Hales' Pascagoula dreams may be dashed.

Hales and First Lady Nancy Hales had planned to travel to Mississippi next month to pay a visit to the USS Portland (actually, the third USS Portland to be owned by the US Navy), named in honor of this city. But after Mississippi became the latest state to pass a terrible, homophobic, discriminatory law yesterday, Hales says he'll put those plans on ice.

"I would be very disappointed if the Mayor of Portland was not able to be there for the launching of the Portland," Hales said this morning, adding "these travel bans, if they are to mean anything, should mean we are not able to go to Mississippi."

Banning travel to states passing what Hales calls "anti-human rights" laws has become a somewhat regular occurrence in Portland City Hall. Just last week, council temporarily banned employee travel to North Carolina because of a law targeting transgender residents. A year before, council banned travel to Indiana for a short time before the state walked back its own controversial law.

None but the Magnolia State ban has had any tangible effect on employees' travel plans.

Hales says he'll bring a resolution before City Council to make the travel ban official. He also says he'll reconsider nixing his trip should the Navy see fit to "move that ship three miles out into international waters."