*
(Note happy update below!)
From the Washington Blade:
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.”
Not entirely surprising, given the President’s announcement of his support for marriage equality back in May — but pretty thrilling, none the less! Capital H History, people, I tell you what.
Update 7/31/12: The DNC has confirmed the news by including it in an email sent to its list, this morning. Greg Sargent at the Washington Post adds these really interesting statistics to put it all into context:
A new Pew poll finds that a plurality of Americans now supports gayt marriage, 48-33, and majority of independents now supports it, 51-40. But an even bigger majority of Republicans, 70 percent, still opposes it. That’s a big cultural shift over the last eight years; in 2004, a big majority opposed it. Republicans are alone in refusing to come to terms with where this is headed.
We’ll soon find out whether suppporting gay marriage is really the political risk people keep saying it is.
Emily L. Hauser - In My Head 
zlionsfan
/ July 30, 2012I think someone could make the argument that it is surprising. Given Obama’s actions during the Tea Party siege of Congress, one could argue that it would make sense for him, and thus national Democrats as well, to continue to drive to the right side of the fairway so that he can point out how far out in the rough the Tea Party is without being accused of having poor vision.
I think it is more likely that his third- and fourth-year moderate streak was a direct reaction to the Tea Party, knowing that he’d have to make sure to start out close enough to them to make sure people could see who was intransigent and who was willing to compromise. With that presumably established, he should be more likely to publicly lean toward his actual beliefs … and if we can make sure that 2013 is truly the end of an error*, I would expect Obama to bring out the driver and show us the snap-hook** he demonstrated during his first two years in office.
I’m looking forward to the convention. I want to hear a major US political party support LGBT positions, and I want to watch some of the more small-minded people I know look around in horror for the end of the world that will not be coming. More weddings = more cake = more dessert for us and more work for bakers. It boosts the economy and the amount of sugar in our blood. It’s a no-brainer.***
*not sure why those bumper stickers say the 20th. Don’t they know Congress convenes on the 3rd?
**use of a golf metaphor not encouraged, especially since I play left-handed and had to work out what a right-handed golfer would do if he were pulling the ball to the left …
***apparently for those small-minded people, concept like “people” and “rights” are not important.
Gonzai55
/ July 31, 2012Now to concentrate on the Maryland referendum and keep the SSM law we fought hard for on the books. And for my favorite boys to get married when they want to, not when politicians say they can.