Blake Hall
Bruce Springsteen would rather lose thousands of dollars than step foot in North Carolina. Hollywood is blacklisting Georgia. And the Navy is moving a prestigious ceremony from Mississippi to the other side of the country.
So the last thing doesn’t sound as newsworthy and tragic as Bruce Springsteen canceling his concert. The point is that the movement to boycott specific states over restrictive legislation targeted at the LGBT community is having an impact on the military, too.
The USS Portland will be officially commissioned in a grand ceremony in May. The location of this ceremony was originally its namesake city, but it was moved to a historic shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the city where the vessel first launched in February.
But then the state passed the Religious Liberty Accomadations Act, a law that would allow marriage license clerks, judges, bakeries, photographers, wedding venues, etc to turn away same-sex couples due to their orientation alone. The law won’t go into effect until July 1, but Mayor Charlie Hales of Portland is already taking action.
“The First Lady and I were invited by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy to help christen the USS Portland in Mississippi. We will not be taking that trip unless that discriminatory law is repealed,” said Hales in a statement. “It would be a shame if the mayor of Portland couldn’t attend the christening of the USS Portland, but I will not travel to a state that legalizes bigotry.”
In response to Hales’ boycott, Navy Secretary Raymond Mabus moved the entire USS Portland commissioning ceremony back to Portland. Hales has family in Mississippi, but he plans to just fly them in for the event.
“I’ll be inviting them to come out to Oregon and see what freedom is like,” he said.
In the meantime, Portland has banned city employees from traveling to Mississippi on the government’s dime.