Washington Blade reports today that a draft version of the Democratic Party platform includes a plank endorsing full marriage rights for same-sex couples.
The D.C. paper reports:
The Democratic Party platform drafting committee approved on Sunday language endorsing same-sex marriage in addition to other pro-LGBT positions as part of the Democratic Party platform, according to two sources familiar with the drafting process.
Retiring gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who sits on the committee, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the 15-member panel unanimously backed the inclusion of a marriage equality plank after a national hearing over the weekend in Minneapolis, in which several witnesses testified in favor of such language.
“I was part of a unanimous decision to include it,” Frank said. “There was a unanimous decision in the drafting committee to include it in the platform, which I supported, but everybody was for it.”
The platform will be considered at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in September.
President Barack Obama and several other high-profile Democrats have already come out in support of full marriage rights for LGBT couples. News of the draft platform language confirms expectations from several others that the platform will be more forceful on issues of LGBT equality.