A gay councillor is threatening to use the power of the pink pound to launch a boycott against major music stores selling "murder music".

Brighton and Hove City councillor Simon Williams said record shops were acting irresponsibly for refusing to take albums containing homophobic lyrics off their shelves.

He was also shocked to find libraries were lending out CDs from one of the artists involved - Jamaican singer Beenie Man.

As part of his campaign, he sent music giants HMV, Virgin and MVC a list of artists including Buju Banton, Elephant Man, T.O.K., Vybz Kartel and Bounty Killer, detailing the offending lyrics.

Coun Williams, who represents the Green Party in Kemp Town, said: "It's wrong for a reputable record chain to sell music in their stores that incites the execution - including hanging and shooting - of gay people."

Coun Williams stressed he was only targeting songs which contained extreme homophobic lyrics and did not want to ban the singers completely.

But in Brighton and Hove, which has a high lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population, the stores risked offending many of their own customers and staff.

Not all shops in the city were following the big stores' lead.

Independent Rounder Records and Essential Records did not stock the CDs.

Essential Music manager Jez Newman said the shop sold reggae but not many contemporary tracks.

Mr Newman said: "We have many gay members of staff and customers and would not want to alienate them."

Phil Barton, owner of Rounder Records, said: "As a retailer, we generally try not to stock things which may be overly offensive to customers."

Some artists on the hit list have already caused controversy - organisers at this year's MOBO Music Awards recently booted out Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel after they refused to apologise for anti-gay lyrics.

And last month gay rights campaigners rejected dancehall star Beenie Man's apology over some of his songs.

Coun Williams, who serves on Brighton and Hove City Council's Community Safety Forum, was also shocked to discover Beenie Man albums available in the city's libraries.

Although they did not contain tracks with the offending lyrics, the councillor called for the CDs to be withdrawn until an apology was given by the record company and artist.

The council yesterday said it had temporarily removed the CDs pending the outcome of an investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service into some Beenie Man lyrics for allegedly inciting violence towards the gay community.

A spokeswoman said: "While the council would not in any way condone the views expressed in this CD, freedom of speech has to be upheld when providing such a huge and varied amount of information for general consumption."

An HMV spokesman said the company had gay employees and did not support or condone homophobic views.

He said: "It is inappropriate for retailers to ban any titles on the basis of content, however much they may disagree with the sentiments expressed."

An MVC spokeswoman said the company was concerned to hear Coun Williams' views but did not believe a company should act as a censor.

A Virgin spokeswoman said: "Virgin Megastores has been one of the leading lights in supporting the rights of the gay and lesbian community and understands the reasons behind Simon Williams' campaign.

"Although the Brighton store currently does not stock any albums containing the lyrics referred to on Simon Williams' list, we believe it is not our role to act as a censor."

Coun Williams said: "The big stores are basically saying, 'We'll act when the Government forces us to through legislation but we won't take these tracks off sale until that happens'. It may be the LGBT community might have to consider a boycott to force them to act."