Anti-LGBT Laws Fuel Further Backlash Nationwide

Ten mayors from some of the nation’s largest cities will ban the use of taxpayer funds not only for official travel to North Carolina and Mississippi,Â but ban the use of taxpayer funds to purchase goods and services from companies located in those two states. The boycott is a direct response to governors in North Carolina and MississippiÂ signing into law legislation that discriminates against LGBT people. The mayors have joined together to create a new group, Mayors Against Discrimination.

Truly a nationwide effort, the founding members of the group are New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (photo), Seattle Mayor Ed Murray,Â Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, and Oakland MayorÂ Libby Schaaf.

“Some are trying to turn back the clock to a deeply flawed time in our history,” Mayor de Blasio said, according to theÂ Seattle Post-Intelligencer.Â

“By joining together in this effort, we are creating a coalition of mayors across the country to combat discrimination of any kind and to protect civil rights everywhere,” Mayor Murray added.

“We as Mayors must stand up together and call out discrimination when we see it, and I believe working together we can create change to ensure the rights of all Americans,” said San Francisco’s Mayor Lee.

The group will also “develop model resolutions that can be adopted by city councils and other legislative bodies, and other measures that mayors and cities can take individually and collectively,” The Bay Area Reporter reports.Â

They say they will alsoÂ “work with private sector leaders and companies, like Marc Benioff from Salesforce, Wells Fargo, Starbucks and hundreds of others to apply direct political and economic pressure to repeal or stop the alarming spread of discriminatory laws in the United States.”

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s HB2 voids all local LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances, bans transgender people from using public restrooms that conform to their gender identity, and removes local control over minimum wages and employment discrimination by mandating only state lawmakers are allowed to legislate in those critical areas.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant’s HB 1523 writes religious discrimination into law, allowing anyoneÂ to refuse LGBT people serviceÂ if doing so would violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.

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EARLIER:

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Image byÂ brklyn is overÂ via Flickr and a CC license