Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin has
endorsed adding gay marriage to the 2012 Democratic platform.
“I think that would be tremendous,
and we have to be focusing on advancing equality in so many different
realms,” Baldwin told gay weekly The
Washington Blade. “It's a statement of values, and I think
it's very important to be included.”
Baldwin, 50, could become the first
openly gay U.S. senator. Polling shows she is running close to her
Republican rival, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, who is
considered the front-runner in the race for the seat being vacated by
Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl.
On Wednesday, Baldwin announced that
her campaign had brought in more than $2 million in the first quarter
of 2012 fundraising.
She joins a growing chorus of elected
officials who have endorsed putting marriage equality in the
platform, including Democratic National Convention chair Antonio
Villaraigosa, House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth
Warren and nearly two dozen U.S. senators.
Last month, Freedom to Marry launched
its Democrats: Say I Do campaign with the goal of adding
marriage equality to the Democratic platform.
“Rep. Baldwin … joins numerous
party leaders and tens of thousands of Democrats who have signed our
online petition in speaking up for the Democratic values of freedom,
family and inclusion that are the core of the case of the freedom to
marry,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to
Marry.
(Related: Obama
is “moving in the right direction” on gay marriage, Tammy Baldwin
says.)