Seattle mayor Ed Murray has denied allegations that he sexually abused three men when they were teenagers in the 1980s, saying in a brief press conference that a lawsuit filed against him will not deter a re-election campaign.

Murray, 61, gained national prominence with a long campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state, his quest to raise Seattle’s minimum wage to $15 – a promise that helped him unseat the incumbent mayor in 2013 – and his unvarnished criticism of Donald Trump. On Thursday Murray was accused by three men of sexual abuse in the 1980s, including in a lawsuit.

On Friday the mayor denied the allegations through a spokesman and at a brief press conference. The claims, Murray said, “were very painful for me. It was painful for my husband.”

He said he will not step down and will run for re-election. But he refused to answer reporters’ questions, saying the case “is now a legal matter that is in the courts”.

A spokesman, Jeff Reading, previously suggested unnamed enemies were behind the claims. “It is not a coincidence that this shakedown effort comes within weeks of the campaign filing deadline,” Reading said.

In court documents, a man identified only by his age, 46, and his initials, DH, said that Murray “raped and molested him” over a period of several years beginning in 1986. The accuser said he was 15 and addicted to crack cocaine at the time, and his attorney, Lincoln Beauregard, said DH had sought mental health counseling and was taking part in addiction-recovery programs.

Murray said the allegations “are simply not true” and that he felt sad for the “troubled” individual.

Beauregard sent a letter Friday to Murray’s lawyer offering to make DH available for a video deposition. Beauregard disputed that the lawsuit was politically motivated, and said Murray wasn’t being truthful. The attorney said that the mayor’s representatives never asked for his client’s identity . “He should have no idea who my client is,” Beauregard said. “How can he paint him as troubled?”

Two others, Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson, also made allegations against Murray, telling the Seattle Times they met him while living in a Portland center for troubled teens. They said they were paid for sex in the 1980s and would testify.

An entry in a case-tracking system shows that the Multnomah County district attorney’s office rejected pursuing a third-degree sodomy case against Murray in 1984, district attorney Don Rees said.

Portland police have found no records linking either man to Murray, said sergeant Pete Simpson of the Portland Police Bureau.

In the 1980s, Murray worked as a paralegal with public defender lawyers in Portland before returning to Seattle. There he joined the vanguard of the gay rights movement, serving as campaign manager for Cal Anderson, a Seattle state senator who was the state’s first openly gay member.

Anderson died in 1995, and though Murray failed in his bid to win Anderson’s seat, he was appointed to fill the legislative seat of the state representative who won the state senate campaign.

During his 18 years as a state lawmaker, Murray was a sponsor of Washington’s gay marriage law, spearheaded an effort to protect LGBTQ youth in public schools, and led the state’s push to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. In his short press conference, Murray invoked his working-class childhood in Seattle, as one of seven children in an Irish Catholic family.

“Things have never come easily to me in life, but I have never backed down and I will not back down now,” Murray said. Michael Shiosaki, Murray’s partner of 24 years and his husbands since 2013, hugged the mayor after his statement to reporters.

In 2013, Murray defeated a fellow Democrat, the incumbent Mike McGinn, who represented a more centrist, older faction of the party. Murray signed a law to raise the minimum wage after taking office, and has recently taken on police reform and increased funds for Seattle’s homelessness crisis. Last week Murray announced that Seattle was suing the Trump administration over the president’s order that threatens to withhold federal funds from communities that refuse to cooperate with efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.