Villaraigosa pushes gay marriage legalization on Democrats' platform

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, serving as chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, called for the party's platform to push for the legalization of gay marriage.

That's a position opposed by President Obama -- though he's said his views on the issue are "evolving" -- and one that many Democrats ostensibly would not want to have highlighted a few months before the general election.

Campaign manager Jim Messina, asked about the matter during a conference call with reporters, did not take a position on such a plank, but said that such a proposal would go through the normal platform revision process, according to Politics Now.

The mayor has long been a backer of gay marriage in California.

"I want to feel the love in their hearts and to see the joy on their faces," he told a crowd in February after a federal appeals court decision to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage.

Four years ago, Villaraigosa and other officials presided over dozens of same-sex unions.

--Seema Mehta and Shelby Grad

Photo: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, pictured on Capitol Hill, expressed support for including the legalization of gay marriage in the Democratic platform. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press