Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Dodd Agree to First Ever TV Debate on Gay Issues

A live, one hour presidential debate on August 9th in Los Angeles will focus on issues of importance to GLBT Americans and others who believe equality under the law is a central tenant of any real democracy. Sponsored by the LOGO TV network and the Human Rights Campaign, the first of its kind TV forum will be aired on LOGO at 7:00 PM Mountain Time, as well as streamed live at LOGOonline.com. Panelists will include Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese and singer Melissa Etheridge, who will ask the presidential candidates questions on such issues as relationship recognition, marriage equality, workplace fairness, the military, hate crimes and HIV/AIDS. LOGO is broadcast on Channel 163 on Comcast cable in Albuquerque.

According to this story at 365Gay.com, "Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Chris Dodd have confirmed they will participate. Several other Democratic candidates also may join the debate." No word yet on whether Gov. Bill Richardson will appear.

As a side note, Richardson is currently the focus of a story about his use of a negative Hispanic term for gayness during a joke sequence with Don Imus on one of his shows about a year ago. I certainly don't approve of Richardson using the term, but given his generally strong record of being supportive of the GLBT community, expect this story to fade fast. The Governor has issued an apology for using the word. I hope he makes it to the LOGO debate to demonstrate his continuing respect for the issues of the GLBT community.