Outside the Beltway

The GOP Platform will include an abortion plank that Todd Akin would love.

While Republicans talk about family values, Chuck Schumer is busy promoting them one staffer at a time.

How dominant were America’s women in the London Olympics? They’d have come in fourth place in the medal count in the US sent separate men’s and women’s teams.

The latest round of the Chick-fil-A controversy is perhaps the most absurd yet.

Tammy Smith has been promoted to brigadier general, thus becoming the first American general officer who also happens to be openly gay.

Mitt Romney and other top Republicans are not taking part in the latest round of the culture war debate over same-sex marriage, for good reason.

Cover Girl model Marlen Esparza was the first American woman to win an Olympic boxing match.

Nate Jones asks, “What if every Olympic sport was photographed like beach volleyball?”

While women are more visible at the 2012 Olympics than any past games, there are still cries of “sexism.”

The fact that someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean they’re evil

One would think that people who have decided that commenting on a political blog under their own name isn’t worth the risk of blowback would feel a certain sympathy for a scientist-astronaut who values her privacy deciding not to tell the world she was gay.

Andrew Sullivan believes Sally Ride “had a chance to expand people’s horizons and young lesbians’ hope and self-esteem, and she chose not to.”

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died yesterday aged 61. Her obituary revealed that she was gay.

In a stunning reversal of policy, DOD is allowing soldiers to march in a gay pride parade in uniform.

We’ve reached the point where public figures coming out of the closet is barely news anymore, and that’s a good thing.

I’ve joined The Atlantic’s debate over a thought-provoking cover story by Anne-Marie Slaughter.

Mary Cheney has married longtime partner Heather Poe.

What hath a fury greater than a woman scorned? Hundreds of scorned women with Twitter accounts.

In March, Janet Wolfenbarger became the first female four-star general in Air Force history. Now, she’s assumed command of all Air Force weapons programs.

The arguments behind the Paycheck Fairness Act do not hold up to scrutiny.

As societal attitudes change, what counts as an insult so bad you can sue someone over it also changes.

Green Lantern is gay. The original Green Lantern. No, the other original Green Lantern.

An unsurprising decision on the Defense of Marriage.

Is President Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriage helping to create a change in opinion on the issue among African-Americans?

Republican politicians have largely avoided the topic of same-sex marriage since President Obama’s announcement. Why?

For years, I’ve used Loretta Lynn as an example of how fast societal mores have changed. It turns out that her marriage at age 13 may be a bit of myth making.

Marriage has always been an evolving institution.

Some Republicans see the light on same-sex marriage. Whether the party will listen is another question.

Rick Santorum is urging Mitt Romney to go all-in on opposition to same-sex marriage. Not surprisingly, this is bad advice.

Mitt Romney wimped out. Again.

Will Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriage benefit him or Romney in the upcoming campaign?

How the Vice-President’s comment’s on Meet The Press led to an historic Presidential announcement.

The same-sex marriage pivot that everyone was expecting has come.

Ruthlessly avoiding fights that aren’t worth the risk is shrewd leadership. But Romney still needs to show he can fight and win.

Based on the postmortems, it certainly seems like the Romney campaign threw Richard Grenell under the bus.

Should the United States Navy name a ship after martyred gay activist Harvey Milk? This is not a rhetorical question.

Some Marine women are going to Infantry Officers Course. Here’s how to make it work.