LEWISTON – Renowned journalist and political activist Andrew Sullivan will speak at Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 4, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

His topic will be “The Politics of Homosexuality.”

Open to the public at no cost, the event is sponsored by the Bates College Republicans, and co-sponsored so far by the Bates College Democrats, Catholic Student Community, Hillel, the Bates Libertarians, the John Galt Press, the Bates College Student Government, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the departments of theater and rhetoric, sociology and political science.

OUTfront, an organization representing gay, lesbian and transgendered students at Bates, hosts a post-speech reception and book-signing that is open to the public.

One of the most incisive political and social commentators writing today, Sullivan is an essayist for Time magazine and a columnist for the Sunday Times of London.

He is also editor of the Web site www.andrewsullivan.com, a daily destination for readers seeking informed commentary on a diverse range of subjects. Sullivan is one of the leading voices in the nation today calling for the acceptance of gay marriage.

The former editor-in-chief of The New Republic, Sullivan was the youngest editor in the magazine’s history. He was named Editor of the Year by Adweek and received National Magazine Awards for reporting, general excellence and public interest.

Sullivan is the author of “Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality” (Knopf, 1995), “Same Sex Marriage: Pro and Con: A Reader” (Vintage, 1997) and “Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex and Survival” (Vintage, 1999). A practicing Catholic, he has challenged the church’s position on gay life and has written extensively on the crisis in the church.