May 12 marked the day that Caroline Kennedy became the 100,000th signer on a letter to President Barack Obama

The letter urges President Obama to allow committed gay and lesbian couples join in matrimony, according to a press release from the Freedom to Marry campaign.

The campaign is a nationwide effort trying to put a stop to “federal marriage discrimination,” according to the campaign’s website.

According to a Gallup.com poll posted on May 20, for the first time, the majority of Americans are in support of legalizing marriage for gay and lesbian couples. However, inflation of support on the issue was due to the changing view of Democrats and independents. Republicans did not have much of a change in viewpoint from the previous year.

According to the poll, in 2010 56 percent of Democrats thought same-sex marriage should be legal, and this year that number increased by 13 percent to 69 percent.

Independents went from 49 percent of the party’s members supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2010 to 59 percent in 2011.

Republicans stayed the same at 28 percent saying same-sex marriage should be legal in both 2010 and 2011, according to the Gallup poll.

The poll’s results also showed that as people get older, their support for legalizing same-sex marriage drops.

Terri Fredrick, a member of EIU Pride, said via email that she imagines that most people in the group would be in support of legalizing same-sex marriage. Fredrick also said that EIU Pride as a group hasn’t taken a stance on any individual political issue.

The EIU Pride group will begin meeting regularly again the fall on Mondays.

Many celebrities have signed the letter urging the President to legalize same-sex marriage. Jane Lynch and her wife Lara Embry, Anne Hathaway, Sara Bareilles, and Lance Bass are among the celebrities to sign the letter.

The letter thanks President Obama for taking a stance, alongside the attorney general, by saying that discriminating against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

“You can offer hope to millions of young gay and lesbian Americans who are facing discrimination. You can tell them that their future is bright, that they, too, will be able to grow up and marry the person that they love, that the pursuit of happiness truly belongs to all of us,” said the letter. “Marriage brings not only public respect and personal significance, but also a safety net of legal protections, rights, and responsibilities for which there is no substitute.”

According to the Freedom to Marry campaign’s press release, family members of gay and lesbian couples, the couples themselves and supporters will deliver the letter this spring along with stories about same-sex couples and family photos.

Melissa Sturtevant can be reached at 581-7942 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com