Big-city mayors take aim at states with anti-gay laws

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray: "We are creating a coalition of mayors across the country to combat discrimination of any kind and to protect civil rights everywhere."

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray: "We are creating a coalition of mayors across the country to combat discrimination of any kind and to protect civil rights everywhere." Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Big-city mayors take aim at states with anti-gay laws 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Big-city mayors from Honolulu to Tampa, Seattle to New York, have formed Mayors Against Discrimination to take action against North Carolina and Mississippi for enacting anti-gay laws.

In addition to barring official travel to states with discriminatory laws, the mayors will work on such measures as prohibitions on contracting and purchasing from companies in these states.

The group includes Seattle Mayor Ed Murray; New York Mayor Bill de Blasio; Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney; Portland Mayor Charlie Hales; Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell; Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales; Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser; and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

"Some are trying to turn back the clock to a deeply flawed time in our history," said de Blasio.

Murray added: "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."

The North Carolina statute, enacted by a special session of that state's Legislature, was designed to block enactment of a new Charlotte ordinance that forbade discrimination against the city's gay, lesbian and transgender citizens.

It forbids discrimination by race, gender, age and national origin, but specifically leaves out civil rights protection for the LGBT community.

The Mississippi statute goes further, allowing businesses, on grounds of supposed religious convictions, to fire employees or deny service because of sexual preference or gender identity.

Major corporations have protested the discrimination laws. PayPal has moved a planned processing center out of Charlotte.

Mayors Against Discrimination will, in its words, "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."

"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.