Denver, CO -- One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Coloradans and their families, is hosting a free watch party for the first LGBTQ presidential candidate forum in the 2020 election cycle.

WHAT: 2019 LGBTQ Presidential Candidate Forum Watch PartyWHEN: Friday, September 20th, 2019 from 6:00 PM MT - 8:00 PM MTWHERE: Blush & Blu, 1526 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80218

This event is free and open to the public.

GLAAD, One Iowa, The Gazette, and The Advocate serve as national partners for the upcoming LGBTQ Presidential Forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on September 20, 2019. The event will be livestreamed for viewing on YouTube here. Actor Angelica Ross, of Pose and American Horror Story, is making history as the first transgender person to host a national presidential candidate forum.

LGBTQ Americans have faced more than 124 anti-LGBTQ attacks in policy and rhetoric from a hostile Trump Administration, including the President’s ban on transgender Americans from serving in the nation’s armed forces and opposition to the Equality Act. Combined with recent research from GLAAD and The Harris Poll suggesting a decline in LGBTQ acceptance among younger Americans, the LGBTQ vote will shape the upcoming 2020 elections.

To date in the 2020 Presidential primary, LGBTQ issues have largely been absent from the national debate stage, with only a fraction of candidates mentioning the LGBTQ community and the issues affecting their lives. Exit polls from the 2018 midterm elections revealed LGBTQ voters represented about six percent of the electorate, making LGBTQ Americans an influential voting bloc in the crowded 2020 presidential primary contests.

“At a time when our community is constantly under attack, when the Trump Administration is trying to erase us from existence, it's never been more important to ensure that the next President of the United States is a champion for LGBTQ Coloradans and our families,” said Sheena Kadi, Deputy Director of One Colorado. “Having issues that impact the day-to-day lives of the LGBTQ community front and center will allow us and other pro-equality supporters to make clear and informed decisions about the candidates they will support with their time volunteering, with their donations, and most importantly, with their votes.”

“LGBTQ issues and the LGBTQ community have been largely left out of the 2020 presidential primary conversation so far, and this forum will bring these important topics to a national audience for the first time in this election cycle,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “We look forward to hearing how each 2020 candidate will fight for LGBTQ acceptance during this campaign and beyond and, as President, how each of them would repair the damage done to LGBTQ equality and acceptance by the Trump Administration.”

Currently, confirmed attendees include former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator Cory Booker, United States Senator Kamala Harris, United States Senator Amy Klobuchar, United States Representative Tulsi Gabbard, former United States Representative Joe Sestak, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and author Marianne Williamson.