Our Chicago: Town hall celebrates Pride Month

CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC 7, Chicago's No. 1 station for news, is celebrating Pride Month on all of its platforms, including two special virtual town halls on June 10 and June 24. This week's forum is moderated by ABC 7 Chicago's I-Team Consumer Investigative Reporter, Jason Knowles and was streamed live on abc7chicago.com Thursday, June 10, at 2:00 p.m.

During this forum, Jason Knowles explored various issues relevant to the LBGTQ+ community with some of Chicago's leaders in the business and non-profit arenas. They delved deeper into issues such as legal issues and recent legislation impacting the trans community and the disproportionate impact that the criminal legal system has on this community. Incidences of anti-gay hate and programs provided to help the victims. Whether the lesbian community feels "heard" within the general LGBTQ discourse. Impact of the pandemic on this community. Other topics for discussion are the name change of the historically gay neighborhood known as "Boystown" to "Northalsted, and concerns surrounding current FDA restrictions on blood donations from gay men. And finally, we learned more about the Legacy Project of Chicago, a non-profit cultural/education charity focused on highlighting and promoting LGBTQ contributions to world history and culture.

Guest panelists for this week's town hall included:

-Mary Morten, Morten Group

-LaSaia Wade, Brave Space Alliance

-Victor Salvo, Legacy Project Chicago

-Diego Cevallos-Garzon, Strong Hands Gym

-Avi Rudnick, Chicago House and Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP)

The virtual town hall was also exclusively streamed live on ABC 7's Facebook Live, YouTube, ABC 7's app, and ABC 7's connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku.

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PREVIOUS TOWN HALLS:

Our Chicago: Town hall explores Chicago's diverse Asian communities

Our Chicago: Town hall focuses on mental health support for Black men

Our Chicago: Town hall focuses on mental health issues in children, adolescents

Our Chicago: Town hall addresses hate crimes against AAPI community

Our Chicago: Town hall celebrates Earth Month and efforts by Chicago's local community organizations

Our Chicago: Town hall on keeping Latino youth safe, demands for investment in wake of Adam Toledo shooting

Our Chicago: Town hall on impact of climate change and weather on our environment

Our Chicago: Town hall with Chicago religious leaders addresses trust, safety around COVID-19 vaccines

Our Chicago: Town hall celebrates women entrepreneurs, hosted by Tanja Babich

Our Chicago: Town hall examines city's women in leadership roles amid Women's History Month

Our Chicago: Impact of pandemic recession on working women

Our Chicago: A Conversation About 'Black, Latino Houses Matter' Program

Our Chicago: A Conversation About Vaccine Efforts

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community town hall examines discriminatory effects of redlining

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community town hall on COVID and the vaccine in the Latinx community

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community town hall showcases faith leaders and 'Family Value' anti-violence campaign

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community town hall on blood donations during COVID pandemic hosted by Hosea Sanders

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community town hall on COVID-19 vaccine concerns in communities of color, hosted by Cheryl Burton

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community on Asian American harassment and bystander intervention, moderated by Ravi Baichwal

Our Chicago: Voices of the Community: Significance of Kamala Harris' election to vice president-elect; Cheryl Burton moderates

ABC 7 Chicago hosts digital town hall to recognize Native American Heritage Month; Leah Hope moderates

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ABC 7 Chicago presents: Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race, a virtual town hall with Windy City Live's Val Warner

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on August 6, 2020: Hosted by Samantha Chatman, on mental health in the Black community

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on July 23, 2020: Hosted by WCL's Val Warner, on race and education during COVID-19

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on July 23, 2020: Hosted by Jim Rose, on race and racism in sports

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on July 16, 2020: Hosted by Cheryl Burton, on violence

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on July 9, 2020: Hosted by Samantha Chatman, on Black Greek letter organizations

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on July 2, 2020: Hosted by Hosea Sanders, on summer festivals

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on June 25, 2020: Hostel by Terrell Brown and Leah Hope, on racism in public education

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on June 18, 2020: Hosted by Evelyn Holmes and Will Jones,on youth movements

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on June 11, 2020: Hosted by Karen Jordan and Hosea Sanders, on organizational social change

Do You Hear Me? A Discussion about Race on June 4, 2020: Hosted by Cheryl Burton, on the aftermath of George Floyd's death

About ABC7/WLS-TV Chicago

ABC7/WLS-TV Chicago is the No. 1 local news source and most-watched television station in Chicago. With top-rated daily newscasts spanning decades and the largest social media presence in the market with more than 2.3 million Facebook followers, ABC7 Eyewitness News provides breaking news, investigative reporting, weather, politics, traffic and sports in the multiplatform space to Chicago, the suburbs and northwest Indiana. Named Best News Operation by the Associated Press for four consecutive years, the station produces 41 hours of local news weekly and Chicago's only local weekday entertainment talk show, "Windy City LIVE," as well as its highest-rated New Year's Eve special. ABC7's award-winning programs such as "Heart and Soul," "The Ñ Beat" and "Asian Influences" showcase the city's diversity, while being the only Chicago station producing and broadcasting parades representing Chicago's rich cultural history. In addition to producing town halls focused on current social issues, the station has a long and proud tradition of broadcasting political candidate debates keeping Chicago's electorate informed. ABC7's outreach efforts include annual partnerships with the Red Cross for life-saving blood drives and, most recently, spearheading an effort to raise more than $1.5 million for area food pantries.