Today, Young Democrats of America’s Executive Director Emily Tisch Sussman joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and more than 13,000 voters around the nation in endorsing language proposed by Freedom to Marry as part of its Democrats: Say I Do campaign calling on the national party to include a freedom to marry plank in the national Democratic party’s 2012 platform.

“As the Executive Director of Young Democrats of America, I represent young people, and the way we connect young people back to Democratic politics is by speaking out for what is right and taking action,” Sussman said. “Polling shows that 70 percent of voters 18-34 support the freedom to marry, and for many of our members, it’s a cause that goes to the core of why they consider themselves Democrats. It is time to realize that marriage is no longer an effective wedge issue; it is a cause that we as Democrats should be leading on.”

The proposed plank language is as follows:

The Democratic Party supports the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibility, and protection under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.

“As a constitutional lawyer with a background in LGBT family law and someone who worked on ending military discrimination under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I am proud to have signed onto Freedom to Marry’s petition and urge my fellow Democrats to do the same,” Sussman continued. “It’s time for our Party to make it official, and say ‘I Do’.”

Public opinion data from 2011 shows that 69 percent of Democrats support the freedom to marry, as well as 59 percent of Independents (Gallup, May 5-8). A National Journal Political Insiders Poll conducted in July 2011 showed that 84 percent of Democratic party professionals believe their party should embrace marriage. Multiple states have already included planks in support of marriage in their state platforms.