Hillary Clinton was offered the chance to headline a dinner tonight for the Human Rights Coalition, but the 2016 Presidential hopeful bailed, snubbing the group and instead opting to make an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Replacing her? Vice President Joe Biden.
The development comes after emails released earlier this week show Clinton strongly objected to gender neutral passports in 2011, a move highly touted by gay rights groups but secretly despised by Clinton. She was also scared of Sarah Palin over the change.
According to The Hill:
“Vice President Biden would have immediate, strong support within the LGBT community should he decide to run for president.
Several top Democrats believe Biden could pull support away from front-runner Hillary Clinton in large part due to his early support for same-sex marriage, a notion Clinton supporters strongly dispute.
Biden on Saturday will have a prime opportunity to appeal to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters when he delivers the keynote speech at the annual gala of the Human Rights Campaign, the most influential gay rights group in the country.
Before that, Clinton is scheduled to have breakfast with the group’s leaders, but she won’t speak at the main event. Clinton turned down an invitation to headline the gala to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” according to The New York Times.
One Democratic donor, who is a former senior political operative in the LGBT world, said many in the community deeply admire Clinton but have a soft spot for Biden because he “speaks very authentically” about gay rights.
“He pushed Obama off the cliff,” the operative said. “There’s a lot of good feeling for him because he was on the leading edge as opposed to responding to political events.”
The operative said he has been a regular donor to the Clinton campaign but conceded, “I would stop my contributions and go ‘wait a minute’ ” if Biden jumped in. “I’m a guy that goes with my heart not my head.”
Though small in size, the LGBT community has become a key constituency for Democrats. Its members are politically active, donating money to and working on behalf of candidates around the country.”
Biden is widely believed to have forced Obama to announce support for gay marriage ahead of his desired timetable after the VP appeared on Meet The Press and expressed his support.
