DNC chair: Marriage equality expected to be part of official party platform

Democratic National Committee chairperson Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has said in an interview with the Philadelphia Gay News (PGN) that she fully expects same sex marriage equality to be a plank in the Democratic Party platform at this year's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 3 to 6.

"I expect marriage equality to be a plank in the party platform," said Wasserman-Schultz. "President Obama has expressed his support for it." The party's official platform is, she said, "a people-powered process" that has yet to be finalized, but the congresswoman said that she "hopes" and "expects" that when the platform is unveiled that it will include a commitment to ensuring that LGBT people can be free to marry.

The Democrats are expected to finalize their party platform at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina in September. For this year’s platform to include a section on providing equal protection for same sex marriages under the law would be considered a major boon for LGBT activists and a great leap of faith for the Democratic Party.

President Barack Obama expressed his personal support of same sex marriage earlier this year.

(image via Flickr Commons User Studio08Denver)