Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
on Wednesday said he supports an effort to add marriage equality to
the 2012 Democratic Party Platform.
When asked by POLITICO.com's
Mike Allen whether he thought that “the Democratic national
platform should have a marriage equality plank,” Villaraigosa
answered, “I do.”
“I think it's basic to who we are,”
he said. “I believe in family values and I believe that we all
ought to be able to have a family, to marry if you want to. I don't
think the government should be in that business, of denying people
the fundamental right to marry.”
“We want to make this the most
accessible convention possible,” he added. “The delegates will
make the decision on the platform, but I do support it and certainly
have for a long time.” (The video is embedded in the right panel
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Along with Mayors Rahm Emanuel of
Chicago and Mike Bloomberg of New York, Villaraigosa has been named a
co-chair of the group Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, which
launched in January. Villaraigosa has also been named the
chairman of the Democratic National Convention.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has
decline to say whether President Barack Obama supports the effort,
ThinkProgress.org
reported.
“Look, we're a big tent party here,”
campaign manager Jim Messina said during a conference call with
reporters. “POTUS has a great record on fighting for fundamental
fairness for all Americans. You know, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and
many other accomplishments we are very, very proud of. You know,
there's a process – there's not even a delegate platform committee
yet – there's a process to go through this discussion, and the DNC
will go through that, and we will have a platform.”
(Related: Democratic
senators support adding gay marriage to party platform.)