PORTLAND, Ore.- Portland mayor refuses to travel to Mississippi to commission USS Portland on the coast, so the commissioning ceremony will stay in Oregon.
The original commissioning was scheduled for May of 2016 in Pascagoula, however after the recent signing into law of the Religious Liberties Accommodation Act, Mayor Charlie Hales refuses to travel to the state.
He says that these kinds of laws against the LGBTQ community are fundamentally wrong and unconstitutional.
The Navy released a statement that the ship will now be commissioned in lat 2017 in Portland.
It will still have it’s own christening in Mississippi on May 21st this year, but it will not be the official ceremony.
The law signed last week by Governor Bryant allows churches, religious charities and privately held businesses to decline services to people whose lifestyles violate their religious beliefs.
