LEWISTON — Shenna Bellows, a member of the executive committee of the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign and executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union for the last four years, will replace Lew Alessio as a Great Falls Forum speaker Thursday.

The forum will focus on the gay marriage debate and take place from noon to 1 p.m. in Callahan Hall at the Lewiston Public Library.

Alessio, a civil rights advocate, was going to join Marc Mutty, chairman of the political action committee Stand For Marriage, however he is unable to attend because of illness, according to event organizers. Bellows was announced as his replacement Wednesday afternoon.

Bellows has served as executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union since March of 2005. She returned home to Maine, where she grew up, after spending two years as a national field organizer at the ACLU legislative office in Washington, D.C. In Washington, Bellows was a leader in post-9/11 issues, developing a field program around the Patriot Act, as well as working to defeat several constitutional amendments that would have undermined the criminal justice system, freedom of speech and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. She is active in the Maine Freedom to Marry Campaign, the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, the Women’s Leadership Action Coalition and the Maine Choice Coalition.

The public is encouraged to attend the event.