culture

While supporters celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Washington Post‘s Eugene Robinson argues that there’s more work to be done. The Supreme Court’s work on marriage equality is far from done. But I believe this may be remembered as the day when the nation…

(The Root) — Usually, when Quinn Gentry stops talking, the women in the audience spend a few seconds sitting, shell-shocked and silent. Around Atlanta, Gentry’s speeches — rife with the nitty-gritty and completely true stories of women infected with HIV collected over the course of her research career — are the stuff of legend. In…

(The Root) — “Do you watch Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta? There’s a married couple on the show, and the wife became pregnant. Her husband asked her to get an abortion, then questioned whether the child was his. Is it me or have the men of reality TV become just as bad as the women?” —Y.P.…

The bigoted backlash over the insanely adorable Cheerios ad has died down. But photographer Michael David Murphy doesn’t want America to forget that mixed love is here to stay, the Huffington Post reports. In a quest to celebrate interracial families, Murphy and his wife launched We Are the 15 Percent, a blog that features pictures…

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth), whose filibuster of a Republican abortion bill made headlines, has a long history of persisting against tough odds, CNN reports. Davis, who stood and spoke for 13 hours on Tuesday at the Texas Capitol, reportedly went from being a teen mom to graduating from Harvard Law School. She…

President Obama is unlikely to see ailing civil rights icon Nelson Mandela when he visits South Africa later this week, the country’s minister of international relations said on Tuesday, according to Agence France Presse. “President Obama would have loved to see president Mandela, but he is indisposed,” said Maite Nkoane Mashebane. Mandela is in a…

After skipping out on the Today show last Friday, Paula Deen appeared in the studio Wednesday morning in an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer, the Huffington Post reports. Deen was composed when she began but crumbled under pressure during Lauer’s questioning. Watch the interview here: Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about…

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that it is unconstitutional to prohibit the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. As it stood, the law denied same-sex married couples federal benefits, such as Social Security and the ability to file joint tax returns. “DOMA…