Democratic Party on road to officially back same-sex marriage

(CBS News) The Democratic Party's platform drafting committee endorsed including a plank in its official platform backing same-sex marriage, CBS News has confirmed.

Although the exact language has not been released, the 15-member committee molding the Democratic Party's policies met in Minneapolis last weekend, and as first reported in the Washington Blade on Monday, the party reversed its position from previous years and backed same-sex marriage.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is gay and sits on the party's platform committee, told the Washington Blade, "I was part of a unanimous decision to include it."

"There was a unanimous decision in the drafting committee to include it in the platform, which I supported, but everybody was for it," he said.

The policy change is not final and must be approved by a larger committee meeting held in Detroit in August. Then, final approval will be left up to convention delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September.

The 2008 Democratic Party platform skirted the issue of same-sex marriage. "We support the full inclusion of all families, including same-sex couples, in the life of our nation, and support equal responsibility, benefits, and protections," the platform read.

The change comes after President Obama announced in May that same-sex couples "should be able to get married." His announcement came shortly after Vice President Joe Biden said he is "absolutely comfortable" with two men or two women getting married and days after North Carolina voters backed a measure adding a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.