Washington(CNN) CNN and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation will team up to host a town hall featuring Democratic presidential candidates answering questions on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues.
The Thursday prime-time event in Los Angeles, airing live on the eve of National Coming Out Day, will feature the largest ever audience for a Democratic presidential town hall devoted to LGBTQ issues.
The candidates will take questions from the audience and CNN journalists on specific LGBTQ concerns as well as their plans to promote equality and civility.
The town hall will air from 7:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET, and will feature nine Democratic presidential candidates appearing back-to-back throughout the evening.
CNN's Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon and Nia-Malika Henderson will moderate the event, which will take place at The Novo in Los Angeles.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had accepted an invitation from HRCF to appear at the event, but canceled events related to his 2020 presidential campaign after suffering a heart attack last week.
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and businessman Andrew Yang both declined HRCF's invitation, citing scheduling conflicts. Invitations to participate in the town hall were extended to Democratic presidential hopefuls who met the DNC's qualifications for the October 2019 primary debate.
The audience will be comprised of invited guests, LGBTQ stakeholders and members of civic organizations, according to a HRCF spokesperson. No public tickets will be available for the event.
The town halls will air exclusively on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN.com's homepage, across mobile devices via CNN's apps for iOS and Android, via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Android TV, SiriusXM Channels 116, 454, 795 and the Westwood One Radio Network.
CNN's live coverage will capture key moments from each segment, serving as the home for expert analysis.