This won’t mean a whole lot if you’re not from Philadelphia, but Chelsea Clinton is going to be at Woody’s tonight. Woody’s is the biggest gay bar in town and they’re hosting a forum.
Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was scheduled to appear Thursday at the popular Philadelphia gay bar Woody’s to participate in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the National Stonewall Democrats. Lesbian singer Melissa Etheridge was scheduled to address the forum as an Obama representative by phone from Los Angeles.
National Stonewall Democrats announced on its web site that it had organized a live transmission by phone of the Philadelphia forum to gay house parties throughout the country, which the group said would serve as another in its series of presidential candidate forums held in key primary states.
Clinton has won the gay endorsement battle in both Philly and Pittsburgh, but the vote is going to be very divided. There isn’t much difference in Obama and Clinton’s positions on LGBT issues, so the choice comes down to other considerations. Clinton looks to get some last second help from Mark Segal, who is probably the most influential voice (media-wise) in the Philly gay community.
Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, the state’s largest gay newspaper, said the Clinton campaign has so far had a more aggressive outreach to gay voters in Philadelphia and other parts of the state.
“The Clinton campaign takes the GLBT community very seriously,” he said. “At the moment, it’s Hillary’s to lose,” he said, referring to the gay vote.
Segal said his paper has remained neutral so far in the Pennsylvania primary but he plans to make an endorsement on behalf of the Gay News during the final week of the campaign.
I have to confess that I don’t understand the point of endorsing Clinton at this late stage of the campaign. Take John Murtha, one of only two superdelegates to endorse Clinton in the last month. His endorsement is so lonely that it just seems like pointless petulance at this point. Wouldn’t he serve his constituents better by befriending the next Democratic president rather than the last? What do gay groups in Philly gain by endorsing Clinton?
I’m all for rewarding (what they consider) good behavior, but the most important goal for the LGBT community has to be beating John McCain, and extending the primary isn’t going to help in that goal. I no longer think it matters whether your first preference is Clinton…a higher priority has to be helping the nominee wrap this thing up.