Gravel gets
HRC/Logo forum invite

The Human Rights Campaign, under fire for excluding low-polling but gay-positive former U.S. senator Mike Gravel from its televised Democratic presidential forum next month, on Friday changed course and invited Gravel to the event.

HRC and cosponsor Logo also announced Friday that they would extend the time allotted from one hour to 90 minutes to make sure everyone had a chance to speak in depth.

"After enthusiastic community response, former Sen. Mike Gravel has been invited to participate," HRC officials said Friday in a written statement.

The event, to take place August 9 in Los Angeles, will be aired on the Logo television network. It is high-stakes to some gays and lesbians because it marks the first time top-tier White House contenders have agreed to a national forum under LGBT auspices.

Until recently, outspoken 78-year-old Alaskan Gravel was best known for his role in the Senate Watergate hearings. Even then showing a penchant for political theater, he read thousands of Nixon-incriminating documents into the Congressional Record that would later be known as "The Pentagon Papers." Later, Gravel championed a national version of the initiative-and-referendum process that has become a powerful grassroots political tool in many states.

He and Rep. Dennis Kucinich are the only candidates in the 2008 White House race to unconditionally support marriage equality. But HRC initially said Gravel had failed to meet its $100,000 funding threshold to participate.

Gravel's campaign Friday credited his supporters for redressing what it termed a "hypocritical snub."

"He is looking forward to this debate so that he can show the LGBT community that he is the only candidate that truly supports their issues," campaign officials said Friday in a statement.

Confirmed participants now include U.S. senators Hillary Clinton of New York, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and Barack Obama of Illinois; former senators John Edwards of North Carolina and Kucinich of Ohio, HRC said. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)