Pelosi Breaks With Democrats To Support Gay Marriage Plank In DNC Platform
Nancy Pelosi, the highly-successful former Speaker of the House, in a groundbreaking statement has just announced she is breaking with the Democratic Party to lead them to include support for same-sex marriage equality as part of the 2012 Democratic National Committee platform. A platform is the basis of all political positions for that party. This should be seen as a sea change, albeit in keeping with two consistent years of polling that show the majority of Americans support same-sex civil marriage.
Pelosi was instrumental in passing repeal of DADT, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban on open service in the military. Last night, Pelosi’s office told MetroWeekly that the House Minority Leader “supports this language”:
“We support the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.”
MetroWeekly noted,
The former House speaker’s support for the move comes in response to Freedom to Marry’s announcement on Feb. 13 that it was launching a campaign to ask the Democrats, as the group put it, to “Say I Do” to including such a marriage equality plank in the party’s platform.
“Freedom to Marry is proud to have Leader Pelosi joining our call to put the Democratic Party squarely on record in support of the freedom to marry as part of the national platform,” writes Freedom To Marry’s Founder and President Evan Wolfson. “A strong majority of Democrats and Independents support the freedom to marry, and standing up for all families is not just the right thing to do morally, it’s also right to do politically.  I hope more people will quickly join Leader Pelosi by signing Freedom to Marry’s Democrats: Say I Do petition so together we can get the party, and the country, where the majority of Americans already are.”
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