'I Grabbed Chelsea's Ass'

I'll take "Things I said on my way to GITMO" for $500, Alex. The above quote is from a story on MSNBC's First Read, detailing Chelsea Clinton's sampling of Philadelphia's gay nightlife this weekend:

Chelsea Clinton stopped traffic Friday night as she wandered the streets of Philadelphia on a gay bar crawl, winning rave reviews for both her politics and her appearance.

Led around the neighborhood by Gov. Ed Rendell, Chelsea was mobbed by local gays and lesbians, as she walked from one club to the next. They ran up to hug her, posed for pictures and certainly invaded her personal space.

"I grabbed her ass," one young woman exclaimed to her friends after snapping a picture with her arm around the former first daughter.

"Chelsea, the gays love you!" one fan exclaimed, as she took the microphone at Bump, a restaurant and bar that was her first stop. "Oh, gosh, I don't know if everybody loves me," she responded.

Now, the idea that a young woman who I must assume, in the absence of photos, bears a close resemblance to Kiera Knightly made mano-a-booty contact with Chelsea Clinton is interesting (especially if you block Ed Rendell out of the story), but is it news? I don't know, does everything have to be news?

I thought long and hard about this question, and eventually, the thought that occurred to me was, "Do 'the gays' matter again all of a sudden?" When I reviewed all of the candidates' platforms in January, John Edwards was the only one of the "Big 3" who had a plank on LGBTQ issues. More on this after the jump.

For the uninitiated, LGBTQ is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer, and is the inclusive moniker of choice for members of the gender non-conforming community. It's an important distinction, because the most recent battle over LGBTQ rights was over whether to include trans-gendered people in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

I've written extensively about ENDA, but to sum up, there are some who think that excluding trans-gendered people is a necessary compromise to get "a" bill passed, and others, like myself, who see compromise as dehumanizing and unacceptable.

There's been little movement on ENDA since November, when the House passed the non-inclusive version and referred it to the Senate.

.Depending on where you stand on this issue, you may or may not like the candidates' positions on ENDA, but here they are. Senator Obama:

Obama has supported fully inclusive protections since his days in the Illinois legislature, when he sponsored a bill to outlaw workplace discrimination that expressly included both sexual orientation and gender identity. Senator Obama thanks leaders in the House who worked to pass their version today, and will cosponsor Senator Kennedy's bill in the Senate to achieve this goal.

And Senator Clinton:

Another potentially presidential Senator, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, has also said she would support ENDA, but has not specifically addressed the trans exclusion. In fact, she used her support as a dig at the current administration:

As President, I will end the divisive politics of this administration and work to renew the promise of fairness for all Americans. This means supporting equal rights for gay and lesbian couples, ending Don't Ask Don't Tell and allowing patriotic Americans to serve their country, and finally signing into law the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hate crimes legislation.

Whatever side you come down on here, it seems to me that neither candidate has made LGBTQ issues much of a priority on the campaign trail. As much as I love Chelsea, I have to say that while the Democrats enjoy that community's support, I don't think they're earning it.