(click on photo to start slideshow)

USA network and The Moth, an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. have paired up to bring star-studded story-telling events to cities around the country.

Seattle was the third stop of the national tour titled "A More Perfect Union: Stories of Prejudice and Power" which is part of USA network's Characters Unite public service campaign to to help combat prejudice and encourage greater tolerance.

The sold-out event at McCaw Hall, hosted by comedian Tom Shillue, starred five celebrity raconteurs including Seattle's very own activist and Washington state Human Rights Commissioner Charlene Strong and writer Michaela Murphy.

Other story tellers included Greg Walloch, a comedian, performer and disabilities advocate; Imam Khalid Latif, the first Muslim chaplain at New York University and youngest chaplain of the New York City Police Department; and Stephanie Summerville, actress currently in residence with the Instant Shakespeare Company.

The special guest of the evening was Willie Garson, known for playing Sex and The City's Stanford Blatch, one of the most iconic gay characters on television.

"I'm proud to be part of a television network who has made prejudice and anti-discrimination part of their campaign," said Garson.

"I've become very despondent with this country. A television network to work with something like The Moth gives me hope because it's about opening up conversation and keep it flowing."

Each celebrity story-teller had ten minutes to share a true story about an experience with bigotry or discrimination, without notes, from a stage to a live audience.

Stephanie Summerville told her experience of working in "highly racist, extraordinarily boring, and extremely oppressed" Indiana as a sitter for terminally ill people. She recalled how, for her assignment, she was sent to the house of an elderly dying man and his daughter. After a cold welcome she comes to realize that she is in the home of an "honest-to-god clansman and I'm a black woman!"

Greg Walloch, a comedian with cerebral palsy shared the story of an encounter he had with a baptist televangelist church in Georgia. They assumed he wanted to be cured of his handicap and tried to cure him while chanting "get the devil out of you body. Get the devil out of your legs."
Walloch explained that his handicap was the least of his worries.

Imam Khalid Latif recounted his frightful experience of being a muslim student at New York University the day the planes hit the Twin towers and the anti-muslim sentiment he has had to endure since.

While the message was serious, most stories were humorous until Charlene Strong told her story that didn't leave a dry eye in the audience.

Subject of the documentary "For My Wife", Strong shared to story of the night her partner died. Kate Fleming, Strong's partner of nine years, died in 2006 when a flash flood trapped her inside her the basement of their Madison Valley home, When Strong arrived at the hospital where Fleming was dying, she was prevented from seeing Fleming because Washington State did not recognize domestic partners. She had to seek permission from an out-of-state family member before Strong could see her longtime partner.

To learn more about USA Network's Characters Unite, visit www.charactersunite.com

To learn more about The Moth, please visit www.themoth.org