Congressmen Thompson, Barber and Reyes cosponsor the Respect for Marriage Act

Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) joined recent sponsors Ron Barber (D-AZ) and Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) as cosponsors for the Respect for Marriage Act last week.

The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would overturn the so-called Defense of Marriage Act's legislation that currently prohibits federal recognition of marriages between same-sex couples, continues to gain support from elected officials - specifically Democrats.

The three new cosponsors signed on less than two weeks before the Democratic Party Platform Drafting Committee announced that the first draft of the platform includes a plank supporting the freedom to marry for the first time in history. The decision to include the freedom to marry was made on Sunday after a 15-member Democratic Platform Draft Committee unanimously voted on the draft's language. The draft now awaits approval from the full platform committee in August and will become finalized at the Democratic Convention on September 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In addition to lobbying elected officials to sign onto the Respect for Marriage Act through our federal team, Freedom to Marry has led the effort for the plank in the platform through our Democrats: Say I Do campaign.

Freedom to Marry is proud and excited to have received such incredible support from leaders, elected officials and organizations in our ongoing efforts to include the freedom to marry plank in the 2012 Democratic Party platform. We applaud Reps. Thompson, Barber, and Reyes on their decision to sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act and encourage elected officials to do the same.

Representative Thompson's sponsorship brings the total number of sponsors of the Act to 154 in the House and 33 in the Senate.