CNN announces details for LGBTQ town hall

CNN on Wednesday announced the details of a town hall for Democratic presidential candidates focused on LGBTQ issues.

Nine Democratic White House hopefuls will attend the town hall in Los Angeles on Oct. 10 — coinciding with the 31st anniversary of National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, CNN wrote in a news release.

During the 4 ½-hour event, candidates will appear back to back in half-hour interviews in which they will take questions from a CNN moderator as well as the audience, the news release said.

{mosads}The candidates attending are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and businessman Tom Steyer.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang both declined invitations to participate, citing scheduling conflicts, according to CNN.

Invitations were extended to candidates who have qualified for the next round of Democratic primary debates in October.

The LGBTQ town hall comes after the third round of Democratic primary debates, with the most recent round taking place last week. ABC News and Univision moderators who hosted the debate came under fire for failing to bring up LGBTQ rights during the showdown, which hosted 10 candidates in Houston.

LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD will host its own presidential forum centered on LGBTQ-specific issues in Iowa on Sept. 20.