July, 30 2012, 04:29pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Angela Dallara
Communications Associate, Freedom to Marry
angela@freedomtomarry.org
646-430-3925
Dem Platform Draft Includes Marriage Following Campaign, Testimony by Freedom to Marry
WASHINGTON
Following a campaign by Freedom to Marry to include a plank supporting marriage for same-sex couples in this year's national Democratic Party platform, Congressman Barney Frank, a member of platform drafting committee, confirmed today that the committee has unanimously approved such language. The platform will be finalized at a meeting of the full platform committee in Detroit in August before being ratified on September 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Marc Solomon, National Campaign Director of Freedom to Marry, released the following statement:
"We are grateful for the Platform Drafting Committee's unanimous vote to include the freedom to marry in its draft of the Democratic Party platform. As I testified to the Committee on Friday, the Democratic Party has a noble history of fighting for the human and civil rights of all Americans. We are proud that the Committee is including language that will ensure the Party is leading the way forward in supporting marriage for loving and committed same-sex couples and their families."
Solomon testified in front of the drafting committee in support of a freedom to marry plank on Friday, July 27 in Minneapolis.
Freedom to Marry'sDemocrats: Say I Do campaign has enlisted Democratic party leaders, elected officials, activists, and voters to make the case to the Platform Drafting Committee in support of the freedom to marry plank. To date, 22 Democratic Senators, the Chair of this year's Democratic National Convention, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, four former chairs of the national Democratic Party, Caroline Kennedy and nine other co-chairs of President Obama's reelection campaign, and more than 40,000 Americans have announced their support for inclusion of a freedom to marry plank in the platform.
Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Headed by Evan Wolfson, one of America's leading civil rights advocates and lawyers, Freedom to Marry brings new resources and a renewed context of urgency and opportunity to this social justice movement.
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