Inside the offices of Republican gay-rights groups, a strategy is forming to convince party leaders to strip opposition to gay marriage from the GOP platform.

The target, operatives say, is to see party leaders drop their support for a gay-marriage ban in time for the Republican National Convention in summer 2016.

It’s a long shot, but Republican gay-rights lobbyists think they can build on the momentum provided by courts nationwide and the belief that philosophically, the GOP’s social conservatives are fighting a battle that puts them well out of step with the majority of the country, and could demographically doom national aspirations.

“The ground has never been more inviting and welcoming to someone changing their position on the issue,” said Marc Solomon, a former Republican Hill staffer, now with Freedom to Marry. “Where the polling is on the issue, it shows that we have a real legitimate chance at victory in 2016.”