Eighteen U.S. Senators have responded positively to requests from the Washington Blade on whether they would support a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform, Chris Johnson reports:

The Washington Blade received statements from the offices of 18 Democratic senators — including Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — expressing support for including a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform. The Blade solicited statements from all 53 Democratic senators and will update this article as more senators respond.

The senators follow the lead of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who on Tuesday became the first U.S. senator this year to get behind the idea of including same-sex marriage in the Democratic Party platform. Shaheen, who's also a co-chair of President Obama's national campaign committee, said she backs a plank in support of marriage equality proposed by the LGBT organization Freedom to Marry.

Freedom to Marry launched a campaign to include in the plank in the Democratic party platform last month.

Yesterday, Today, Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Representative Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), all co-chairs of President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign expressed their support, according to a statement released yesterday by Freedom to Marry.

Said Marc Solomon, National Campaign Director for Freedom to Marry:

“This outpouring of support from elected officials and trusted Democratic advisers is phenomenal. At its best, the Democratic Party stands strongly for freedom and equality for every American. Over the coming weeks and months, we will build and grow this campaign and make the case to Democrats throughout the country that a freedom to marry plank is just, politically smart, and what Democratic voters expect of their Party.”