singer melissa ethridge, co-founder of up, of love. irasked her is that how the organization got started. >> you can't even talk about being gay, stop there. the entertainment industry we all got together in one place and said what can we do? this is what we can do. we know that we have a way into people's hearts and into people's, entertaining is a way into people. and so let's see if we can cause an uprising here, change people's -- change their fear, change their outrook, instead of i'm not going to go in there and change their laws, that's not going to work. you're going to change their hearts, that's what we're after. >> how do you change their hearts? >> i know 20 years ago, when i came out, it's about saying yes i'm gay. now you know a gay person. see that i'm human, i want to do. >> greg: good, i want to be a contributing -- i want to do good, i want to be a contributor to society, you start being yourself. to lower the fear. it's funny because this is not something that you would think oh i want to donate money to. but what it

my conversation with melissa ethridge coming up next, live on cnn.to try red lobster's four course seafood feast, just 15.99. start with soup, salad and cheddar bay biscuits then choose one of eight entrees plus dessert! four perfect courses, just 15.99. come in to red lobster today and sea food differently. four perfect courses, just 15.99. >>> talk about a who's who of world leaders now converging on south africa to attend tomorrow's massive memorial service for nelson mandela. president obama is on his way, leading this national delegation of politicians and dignitaries. on air force one, former secretary of state, hillary clinton. also george and laura bush. several others. they're getting ready for this massive memorial. huge undertaking, and such a brief period of time. just think of the logistics here. this is just the beginning. after the memorial, mandela will lie in state for three days. and then be buried on sunday. and our chief international correspondent christian eon amanpour is live now from johannesburg where it's just after 10:00 at

melissa ethridge would agree with you. >> i'm sure she would. >> she was sitting right here next to mes an activist, singer-songwriter and formed this group of people, this coalition trying to raise awa awareness going into sochi. her message was this. let me play this sound bite. she says do not boycott the olympic games. >> because i'm known as a gay person, just by showing up and saying i'm standing here fearless, because i believe that we as human beings can do this, we can get past this fear that somehow there's something dangerous in this. >> what would you say? or would you let your presence speak for itself? >> yeah, i would show up. i would be there. i would say to the gay community, come, just stand with me. >> she was saying she would love to go to sochi. she's not so sure if she can, if they would have her. do you agree with her message? >> i do. i think the worst thing we can do is to boycott the olympics. you know, the athletes work all year long and their whole lives. to have it thrown away for some silly, you know, law that russia has started, i'm really glad that the u