Dori calls Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s China trip hypocritical

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is headed to China and Japan to promote business and trade with the Emerald City.

But KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson is calling him out, saying the trip is more proof that the mayor cares more for grandstanding than substantive progressive ideals he often promotes.

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“Can somebody explain to me why Mayor Ed Murray is going to China which has far more draconian LGBT laws than Indiana and North Carolina have even dreamed of?” Dori asked. “The stunning hypocrisy of this. The mayor says ‘can’t go to Indiana, can’t go to North Carolina. Oh, by the way, I’m going to China.’”

Mayor Murray will spend three days in Japan and two days in China along with a range of Northwest businesses such as Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, Vulcan, Costco and more. The mayor is making the trip after banning all city business travel to Indiana and North Carolina over the past year after those states passed laws promoting discrimination of the LGBTQ community. The mayor also barred the use of city funds for employee travel to Mississippi. Murray will travel to Japan and China from May 9-17 with two staffers and a security detail.

“In China, they don’t even allow gay marriage,” Dori said. “In China, businesses are free to discriminate against somebody based on their sexual orientation. In China, you have to use the bathroom of your birth gender. China makes Indiana and North Carolina look like San Francisco. China is so regressive when it comes to gay rights.”

“He couldn’t care less about gay rights or LGBT rights,” Dori added. “All he cares about is grandstanding. Because there was a trendy movement to ban North Carolina and Indiana travel; he wanted to be ahead of the trend. But when it comes to China there is business interest that is far more important than gay or LGBT rights.”

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