The Democratic Party’s platform committee has unanimously agreed to include support for full marriage equality in the document that will be put forward at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. More than 100 members of the committee approved the language at a meeting Saturday in Detroit, Mich.
Among the committee members who spoke about the marriage plank was openly gay Minnesota State Sen. Scott Dibble (pictured), according to the Washington Blade. “This has certainly been a journey for many people in this country. It’s been a journey for our president, and I’m very proud of our president [for] having stood and said all families matter,” Dibble told committee members.
The approved language, which still must be adopted by convention delegates, reads:
We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.
We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples. We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.
