Lawrence City Hall is set to join a national effort that promotes marriage equality for gay couples.

City commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday are scheduled to authorize Mayor Jeremy Farmer to join the Mayors for the Freedom to Marry coalition.

The coalition currently has more than 450 mayors from across the country that have signed onto the effort, which is lobbying for an end to laws that prohibit gay couples from marrying. Farmer said he’s confident such a change is supported by a majority of Lawrence residents.

“This represents the values that Lawrence has and the values that I have,” Farmer said.

Mayors are asked to sign a statement that supports same sex-marriage and affirms how a community can be enriched by diversity.

“We stand for the freedom to marry because it enhances the economic competitiveness of our communities, improves the lives of families that call our cities home, and is simply the right thing to do,” the statement reads in part.

Farmer said he recently received an email about the group shortly after being sworn in for a one-year term as mayor in early April. He said he’s met several of the members who serve on the board of directors for the organization through national city government conferences that he has attended. He said his understanding is the group is nonpartisan, and the city’s commitment primarily is to show its support for the effort to end bans on gay marriage.

“It looks like lots of progressive communities are getting on board with the benefits of everybody having the right to marry,” Farmer said. “I think this is reflective of who we are as a community.”

Commissioners meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.