Cher. | Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Cher to headline LGBT fundraiser for Clinton in Miami Beach

Cher is headlining a Miami Beach fundraiser for Hillary Clinton next week, marking the second LGBT-related event the star is holding for the Democrat.

As invitations to the Aug. 19 fundraiser begin hitting email boxes on Thursday, Republican Donald Trump will be meeting in Orlando with a group of conservative Christian pastors who have criticized the gay rights movement.


For Clinton’s backers, the contrast between Cher’s fundraiser and Trump’s private meeting with the 700 religious leaders of the American Renewal Project provides the perfect opportunity to question Trump's commitment to gay rights after he promised to respect the “the LGBTQ community” at the Republican National Convention last month.

“This shows who is a friend of our community and who isn’t,” said Tony Lima, a co-host of the Cher fundraiser and executive director of the Miami gay rights group Safeguarding American Values for Everyone. Gay rights activists Bradley Carlson and Joe Falk are also listed as event co-hosts.

Neither Trump’s campaign nor the American Renewal Project would comment.

David Lane, founder of the American Renewal Project, told Bloomberg News he wanted Trump to discuss “the religious liberty of Christian photographers, Christian bakers, Christian retreat centers, and pastors who believe same-sex intercourse and marriage is sin … Homosexual totalitarianism is out of the closet, the militants are trying to herd Christians there.”

Gay rights activists plan to protest Trump's meeting with the pastors, which comes just two months after the massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. Forty-nine people were killed in the attack.

Clinton is not expected to attend the Cher fundraiser. General admission is $250 for the Hillary Victory Fund event. Contributors who chip in $5,000 can have their picture taken with the singer.

She is scheduled to appear with Cher at another fundraiser, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Aug. 21. Three days after that, Bill Clinton heads to Florida for two days of fundraisers in Tampa, Orlando and Palm Beach.

Lima said Cher, whose son, Chaz, is transgender, is a natural surrogate for Clinton as she reaches out to LGBT activists, donors and voters.

“If you look at the community as a whole, Cher has been an icon in the gay community since the 60s,” Lima said. “Older gay men, from their 40s to the 70s, just love her.”