by Adeniyi Abdul

The Associated Press reports that the US Democratic Party is gearing up to include support for gay marriage in it’s official party platform. The platform drafting committee reportedly voted to include support for gay marriage at a meeting last weekend in Minneapolis. The move will not be formally approved till the party convention in September in North Carolina but is already being received happily by rights groups.

“I believe that one day very soon the platforms of both major parties will include similar language,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “There is no more American value than honoring and protecting one’s family.”

The National organization for Marriage, on the other hand, isn’t so pleased. “We will rally supporters of traditional marriage to make sure they realize that the outcome of the presidential election may determine the future of marriage in our country,” said Brian Brown, the organization’s president.

The vote to include  support for gay marriage in the platform was unanimous, according to a party member who spoke to the Washington Blade.

“Retiring gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who sits on the committee, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the 15-member panel unanimously backed the inclusion of a marriage equality plank after a national hearing over the weekend in Minneapolis, in which several witnesses testified in favor of such language.” Washington Blade.

“I was part of a unanimous decision to include it,” Barney Frank said. “There was a unanimous decision in the drafting committee to include it in the platform, which I supported, but everybody was for it.”