Aug 03, 2007  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

Editors’ note: Visit washingtonblade.com on Aug. 9 and 10 for complete coverage of the forum. The Blade’s deadlines will prevent coverage from being included in the Aug. 10 print edition.

Seven leading Democratic presidential candidates will face questions next week during a 90-minute forum dedicated to gay topics that is generating excitement — and criticism — among gay observers.

Online visitors have submitted more than 3,000 questions via the Human Rights Campaign web site for the Aug. 9 forum jointly presented by the Logo TV network and HRC. None of the questions have been publicly revealed.

“The purpose of this forum is not to provide gotcha moments, because that doesn’t serve anybody well,” said Jonathan Capehart, a gay Washington Post editorial page writer who will serve as a panelist for the forum.

“But you do want to get the candidates talking about these issues in a way that’s human and not overly rehearsed.”

It’s also unclear how many questions will be asked during the 90-minute forum, titled “The Visible Vote ’08: A Presidential Forum.” The program begins at 9 p.m. EST and airs live on Logo and online at visiblevote08.com.

Officials at HRC and Logo have said only that issues important to gay Americans will be discussed.

“We’re getting amazing, amazing question suggestions,” said Steven Fisher, Logo’s vice president for communications and public affairs. “I think it’s going to be a great night.”

The program includes all leading Democratic contenders except Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, who has told organizers he has a scheduling conflict. Those confirmed for the event are: Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Barack Obama (Ill.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.); Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio); former Sens. John Edwards (N.C.) and Mike Gravel (Ala.); and Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.).

Candidates will appear sequentially, each talking with a group of panelists that includes Capehart, HRC President Joe Solmonese, and lesbian singer Melissa Etheridge. Margaret Carlson, a Bloomberg News columnist, who is straight, will moderate the forum.

Other details, such as the order of panelist questioning or whether each candidate will receive equal time, have not been determined.

“The format’s a work-in-progress until the day of,” Fisher said. “It’s evolving.”

Some details, however, have been purposely concealed. Questions for the candidates are so closely guarded that HRC has declined to release any of the 3,000 queries it’s received.

Capehart also declined to provide a sample question, but said many topic areas have been culled from headlines.

“There’s questions that just have to be asked, and anybody who’s remotely paying attention to issues facing the LGBT community knows what those topic areas are,” he said. “It’s gays in the military, it’s questions on gay marriage, it’s health care questions and equal opportunity questions and all those things that are written about and discussed and debated in the Blade and the blogs and other places.”

Carlson did not respond to a Blade interview request. Etheridge was not available for an interview.

Solmonese said many of his questions would be drawn from public submissions.

“As a group here in the office, we’ve started to go over them,” he said. “I’m incredibly impressed with the interest the community has shown and the thought that has gone into the questions that people have put forward.”

Solmonese said the questions he’s likely to choose are those that ask candidates to explain their thoughts, work or accomplishments on gay issues.

“I’m looking for more of a way forward, more of the thinking that goes behind a policy decision that one of these candidates have arrived at,” he said. “I’m looking maybe to prod a little bit as to if this person were to become president, how would these things be done.”

The program, which is slated to air without commercial breaks, includes a planned 90-minute forum followed by audience reactions. Jason Bellini, the gay anchor of CBS News on Logo, will host the later segment.

Program criticized

But while interest in Logo’s first live program is running high among many gays — giving rise to viewing parties organized separately by both HRC and the Clinton campaign — the event has drawn some criticism.

Sara Whitman, a lesbian syndicated columnist, said the program lacks “heavyweight political seriousness.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Melissa,” Whitman wrote in a column published last month. “But asking Melissa Etheridge to moderate a serious political discussion is like asking me to sing ‘Yes, I Am’ in concert.”

Longtime gay activist and Sirius radio talk show host Michelangelo Signorile echoed Whitman’s concerns.

“Not that I don’t love Melissa Etheridge, but this would be equivalent to the black debate being moderated by Aretha Franklin and the head of the ...