For the first time in over ten years, Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls will be invited to a forum to discuss LGBTQ policies, reported the Washington Post.
The candidates will discuss issues around LGBTQ hate crimes, bullying, and transgender rights at the forum hosted by the Human Rights Campaign and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, scheduled on the eve of National Coming Out Day, October 10.
“If any LGBTQ person were to take a cross-country drive from HRC headquarters in Washington, D.C., to UCLA’s campus, their rights and protections under the law would change dozens of times at every city line and state border,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “Millions of LGBTQ people will have their rights on the ballot in 2020 – but today we are also a powerful voting bloc that will help determine the outcome. We’re excited to partner with UCLA Luskin and create an opportunity to hear candidates’ agendas for moving equality forward.”
Since the last presidential LGBTQ forum, held in 2008, public opinion on the LGBTQ community has shifted favorably. According to Gallup, only 55 percent of Americans believed gay and lesbian relationships between consenting adults should be legal in 2008. Ten years later, in May 2018, that number raised to 75 percent.
To be one of the many Democratic presidential hopefuls to be invited to the forum, you must have either had received donations from 65,000 people over 20 different state or received 1 percent or higher support in three national polls.
Pete Buttigieg, a mayor from Indiana and the first openly gay politician to run for president, has reportedly met the donation requirement and will likely attend.