Angelica Ross To Host Presidential Candidate Forum On LGBTQ Issues

Actress and trans activist Angelica Ross, the breakout star of the history-making FX series Pose, has been announced as the host of the upcoming 2020 Presidential Candidate Forum on LGBTQ Issues presented by GLAAD, One Iowa, The Gazette, and The Advocate. The forum will be streamed live from the Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA on September 20 at 7PM CST. Ross, along with GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, will help to bring LGBTQ specific-issues to the forefront of discussion in the 2020 presidential election.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, former Pennsylvania representative Joe Sestak, U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren, and author Marianne Williamson are all confirmed to participate in the forum. Each candidate will have the opportunity to share their ideas for improving queer and trans acceptance in the US at a time when those rights have become more openly under attack. Queer and trans have faced more than 124 anti-LGBTQ attacks in policy and rhetoric from the White House, from a ban on transgender Americans from serving in the military to the administration’s opposition to the Equality Act.

The 2020 presidential election conversation has so far failed to address queer and trans issues during nationally televised events.

“This LGBTQ Presidential Forum is a pivotal moment in the 2020 election cycle,” said Ellis. “It’s the first time that LGBTQ issues will be exclusively discussed by 2020 presidential candidates on a national stage. We look forward to hearing how the 2020 candidates plan to reverse the attacks and rollbacks of the Trump Administration and put LGBTQ Americans on a course to 100% acceptance.”

Ross is an exciting choice to host a forum such as this. With the announcement of Bee Love Slater’s murder in early September 2019, the 18th such murder of a Black trans woman in the US in 2019, the most marginalized members of the already marginalized queer and trans communities often struggle to find a voice in the national conversation on queer and trans equity and rights.

Aside from her breakout role in Pose, as well as an appearance in the upcoming season of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, Ross is also the President of Miss Ross, Inc. and founder and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, an organization that helps people lift themselves out of poverty through technical training and digital work that creates social impact and brings economic empowerment to marginalized communities and members.

The livestream of the 2020 Presidential Candidate Forum on LGBTQ Issues will be available on YouTube.