More of This, Please!

Igor at Think Progress reports that Rep. Nancy Pelosi is "calling on the Democratic party to include marriage rights for gays and lesbians in its 2012 party platform."

Pelosi's backing comes in response to Freedom to Marry's new 'Say I Do' campaign, which is pushing Democrats to become the first major political party to adopt the policy:

The proposed plank states: "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."

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tells Metro Weekly, "Leader Pelosi supports this language."

The Democrats' 2008 platform opposed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which the Obama administration is no longer defending in court, but took no position on marriage equality. Obama has said that he is still "evolving" on the issue, even as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers now support marriage.

You know, this "evolution" bullshit was craven enough when Democrats had some reason to think that supporting marriage equality on principle might have undermined their electability, but a majority of USians now support marriage equality, and I find it extremely unlikely there are vast numbers of voters who will support President Obama only if he continues not to support marriage equality, or even enough voters whose abandonment wouldn't be more than made up for by the people who would get their asses to a voting booth for a candidate who took an unabashed stand for equality.

The Democrats might be pleasantly surprised if they stopped making policy via focus groups of likely voters, and instead gave currently unlikely voters a reason not to stay home.