Democrats are asking supporters to “stand with” President Obama and the Democratic Party in solidarity on gay marriage — even though the White House and Mr. Obama’s campaign repeatedly have declined to say whether the president supports efforts to write a gay-marriage plank in the party’s platform.
In an opening line of an email to supporters with the subject line “Are You Proud?” Mike Ryan, the policy director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is clearly excited about the efforts to include a gay-marriage plank in the party’s platform this year.
“The Democratic National Convention is moving forward with a plank embracing marriage equality as part of our 2012 platform!” he writes. “We support marriage equality for LGBT citizens because all of America’s families deserve the benefits of equal protection under the law.”
Mr. Ryan then offers supporters who sign a petition of support a free “I Love Equality” bumper sticker.
The email is one of two that Democrats have sent out on gay marriage in the past week that doesn’t ask for funds but appears to be a way for Democrats to identify supporters who care about the issue in order to better target future communications.
In late July, retiring Rep. Barney Frank, a member of the drafting committee and an openly gay member of Congress, announced that the platform would include support for gay marriage — the first time a major party has gone that far.
Mr. Obama earlier this year reversed himself and said he now embraces gay marriage, but the White House last week as well as the campaign declined to say whether the president supports adding the plank or whether doing so would hurt Democratic candidates in swing states.
Stephen Dinan contributed to this article.
