Gay rights forum held in Nashville

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http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/0...ent_ID=57311169

1st public forum on gay rights issues draws 150

By ANITA WADHWANI

Staff Writer

Marriage debate dividing nation, moderator tells Belcourt audience

A town hall meeting to discuss the past and future of gay and lesbian rights drew about 150 to the Belcourt Theater last night in the first public forum of its kind following a year of intense political debate in Tennessee and across the country over same-sex marriage.

Moderating the 90-minute panel discussion was John Seigenthaler, founder of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and publisher emeritus of The Tennessean, who called gay rights the ''most divisive issue'' in the nation today.

The meeting seemed to have attracted only supporters of gay issues.

A proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage divides the president from the vice president, the Congress and many among the American public