Many Democratic leaders want to include support as a plank in the party platform, but its inclusion still faces some hurdles

A growing number of Democratic leaders are urging the party's national committee to approve a platform that would officially embrace marriage equality at the party convention in September.

Already, polls show that a majority of Democrats support same sex marriage, but the party has so far avoided explicit calls for its legalization.

The Freedom To Marry campaign said it is hopeful that the recent groundswell of support, in the wake of President Barack Obama's public endorsement of marriage equality in May, will translate into a plank in the 2012 party platform.

Debbie Wasserman Shultz, the Democratic National Committee chair, gave the campaign a boost when she said last week she expected marriage equality to be part of the official platform. Her endorsement follows that of Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles Mayor and convention chairman, and those of a number of co-chairs of the president's re-election campaign.

Evan Wolfson, the director of Freedom to Marry, which has been working for months on a petition addressed to party leaders asking them to include such a plank, said: "Very important public figures have spoken up including people speaking of changing their minds on the issue, including the President.

"The impact of the plank is that it puts the Democratic party squarely on record. Not just the President, not just in one year. It creates greater opportunity for more party leaders and party officers to take a stance in the election still to come and policies still to come."

So far, 42,715 supporters have signed Freedom to Marry's petition, including 22 senators and 11 state Democratic party chairs. More than 20 state Democratic party organizations have incorporated pro-marriage positions into their platforms. They include states that traditionally swing "red" or "purple," like Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

The final decision of whether marriage equality is on the platform is up to a committee, but support by Wasserman Schulz is seen as a key part of the process.

Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida's 20th district, told Philadelphia Gay News: "I expect marriage equality to be a plank in the national party platform. President Obama has declared his support for it ... Now, our platform committee process is a people-powered process. We have a platform committee, and the platform is developed by our Democratic activists and the platform committee members, so they'll go through a process. I hope that marriage equality, and expect that marriage equality, will be part of our platform."

The inclusion of a marriage equality plank is not a done deal, however. In a recent piece in the Washington Blade, which asked 15 members of the drafting committee whether they would support such an endorsement, found mixed responses.

The next step for Freedom to Marry is to testify at a DNC drafting committee hearing next week.

"There is work to be done,' said Wolfson."They have invited the public to testify. They have invited Freedom to Marry to testify, as part of the televised process."

He said that marriage equality's inclusion in the platform was by no means a certainty, but that he hoped that campaigning, along with s shift in public opinion towards equal rights in marriage, will inform the decision.

"Over the last year and a half we have seen a majority of Americans nation-wide support same sex marriage," he said. "In the 1990's, 27% of Americans supported same sex marriage. It is now 54%. In 16 years support has doubled.

"We have seen Republicans as well as Democrats change their views. These are shifts in public opinion and political opinion. Now we want to take that momentum and carry it into legal and political change."

No one from the DNC was available for comment, but Tad Devine, a Democratic consultant who was a senior advisor to John Kerry's Presidential campaign in 2004 and to Al Gore's in 2000, said there was a "very good chance" support for marriage equality would appear on the party platform.

Citing shifting public opinion, Devine said it could be seen as Democrats sending a "strong signal" to constituents who support equality.

He said: "Attitudes have really shifted on the issue of marriage equality. It's a position that enjoys much more public support than in the past. It was a polarizing social issue in the past, but it doesn't have the kind of intensity that moves voters one way or another."

Devine believes that the activist make-up of the platform committee provides another reason the plank is likely to be adopted, as they are more likely to be progressive or liberal-leaning. Asked about the potential pitfalls of such a move, Devine said that Democrats who disagree with it are not beholden to every plank in the party platform.

"There are Democrats who get elected in very conservative places in this country. They can say, 'Listen, I disagree with the party. I believe in civil unions.'

"There are systems of checks and balances. Just because the party says something doesn't mean it is made into law."