The American R/Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

Activist Grace Lee Boggs is finally getting the national attention she has long deserved, thanks to a new documentary, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, airing tonight on PBS’s POV series (and then streaming on POV’s website from July 1-30). At age 99— her birthday was this past Friday—Boggs is still going strong. […]

The Case Against 8: Love Conquers All

This time last year, the nation held its breath waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on two major marriage equality cases—and on June 26, 2013, SCOTUS declared both the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. In the months since that decision came down, support for marriage rights for […]

The Marriage Equality Victories of 2013

UPDATE: Today, a federal district judge struck down as unconstitutional Utah’s 2004 ban on same-sex marriage, and the Salt Lake County clerk’s office has started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples! This year will long be remembered as a watershed for marriage equality in the United States. With big wins at the Supreme Court, and […]

Moms and Mr. Moms: Funny and Smart

Calling all Comedy Central junkies, SNL fans and lovers of The Colbert Report: If you care about the history of comedy, then you need to know about Jackie “Moms” Mabley, and unless you’ve done your humor homework, chances are pretty good that you don’t. Moms Mabley (born Loretta Mary Aiken) was one of the biggest comedy […]

Want to See More Women Writers in The New York Times?

If The New York Times—or any other publication—wants to include more women as writers and sources, here’s simply what it has to do: Pay attention. As the Ms. Blog reported in early August, a recently launched website, Who Writes for the New York Times, keeps track of gender imbalances in a way that could help the Times’ editors […]

What Scalia Says About Gay People

As we wait for the Supreme Court decisions on marriage equality to come down in June, commentators have been dissecting the oral arguments and making predictions about the possible outcomes. But there’s one SCOTUS judge who leaves no doubt about how he will rule: Justice Antonin Scalia will undoubtedly vote against gay rights. He disapproves […]

Opponents of Marriage Equality Want to Control Straight Men

“Very few men outlive their fertility.” Who would have expected the argument against same-sex marriage to hinge on male fertility? But such was the case yesterday when attorney Charles Cooper uttered that statement to explain the meaning of “responsible procreation,” the central argument he advanced in favor of prohibiting same-sex marriages in his defense of […]