Democratic platform will include marriage equality plank

As predicted by Joan McCarter Monday, the Democratic National Committee has confirmed that there will be an affirmative plank on marriage equality in the 2012 Democratic Party platform. The first openly gay Congressman to voluntarily announce he is gay, Rep. Barney Frank, wrote of the decision:

I want you to be one of the first to know: After a unanimous decision on Sunday, the drafting committee for the Democratic National Convention embraced marriage equality as part of our platform for the 2012 Convention.

The next step will be for the full platform committee to vote on it, after which it will be presented to the delegates at the Convention in Charlotte for a final vote. Make no mistake: This is a historic step toward fairness for all. Once again, Democrats are fighting to move this country forward. [...]

Now, it's up to us to speak up for what he has called a simple proposition: that every single American deserves to be treated equally.

A new Pew poll, shows that 65 percent of Democrats now support marriage equality, up from 50 percent in 2008 and 40 percent in 2004.

As Rep. Frank said, now it's up to all of us to speak up for this basic civil right.

8:51 AM PT:

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), an openly gay member of Congress, predicted the platform plank won't hurt Obama'because voters already know his position'or members of Congress up for reelection who are squeamish on the issue.

'If it's not their position, then I don't think that voters will take that into account,' Polis said. 'Each candidate running for office, whether a Democrat or a Republican, has positions that they stand for. Sometimes those are in agreement with party platform, sometimes not.'

But Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, was less circumspect. Endorsing gay marriage, he said, will cost Democrats in elections up and down the ballot.

'They can kiss the presidential election, the House and now the Senate goodbye,' he said.