Michael O'Donnell writes in the Nation, "A colleague of mine recently argued an important civil rights case before the Supreme Court. In the hectic days before she left for Washington, as she reread every relevant decision and practiced clearing her throat, her attention was diverted by a niggling question: what would she wear to the oral argument? A fellow lawyer had set her to worrying by telling the cautionary tale of a female assistant solicitor general who some years earlier had shown up to court in what then-Chief Justice Rehnquist apparently regarded as an unlovely shade of brown. Halfway through her presentation, Rehnquist sent a note to the solicitor general, saying that he never wanted to see a government attorney wearing that color to the court again."

Abby Goodnough writes in the Washington Post, "Gay-rights groups say that momentum from back-to-back victories on same-sex marriage in Vermont and Iowa could spill into other states, particularly since at least nine other legislatures are considering measures this year to allow marriage between gay couples."

Nikita Stewart and Tim Craig write for the Washington Post, "The D.C. Council unanimously voted yesterday to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere, joining a growing number of states to loosen restrictions on the unions. The District's actions came the same day as Vermont became the fourth state to recognize same-sex marriages and a week after the Iowa Supreme Court legalized such unions. The moves generated a sense of momentum and hope among gay activists and anger among some religious and conservative groups."

David Abel writes for the Boston Globe, "That it would be a tight vote was never in doubt, but the outcome was unclear until the roll call came to the end and Jeff Young, a gardener and freshman Democrat, switched his vote with a simple "yes" from his wooden desk in the chandelier-lit chamber.

His change of mind tipped the balance yesterday in the state House of Representatives, making Vermont the fourth state in the country to legalize marriage between same-sex couples -- and the first by a legislative vote."

Brian Montopoli writes for CBS News, "The decision by the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn that state's gay marriage ban is prompting questions about whether or not the battle over gay marriage, long a central focus in the culture war, has reached a tipping point in American culture."

Fisnik Abrashi writes in the Washington Post, "A new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives, human rights groups and some Afghan lawmakers said Thursday, accusing President Hamid Karzai of signing the legislation to bolster his re-election prospects. Critics worry the legislation undermines hard-won rights for women enacted after the fall of the Taliban's strict Islamist regime."

A Washington Post editorial says "Three more deaths demonstrate the need for more effective tools against domestic violence."

Lynn M. Paltrow writes for the Huffington Post, "PersonhoodUSA apparently sees itself as the new, hipper, more effective incarnation of the anti-abortion movement. PersonhoodUSA hopes that by establishing the 'pre-born, as legal persons with protection under the law' it will end the 'injustice of abortion.' Its attempt to do this last November through a 'personhood' ballot measure in Colorado's failed miserably. Nevertheless, PersonhoodUSA, is committed to 'working tirelessly to establish personhood in every State.' What supporters of this approach don't mention is that if the unborn have legal personhood rights, pregnant women won't."

Melissa Silverstein writes for the Women's Media Center, "Most women, including feminists, have a love/hate relationship with the chick flick. A mere mention of the term can send you into a lather bemoaning the disparagement that the entire genre has wrought on womankind. The current offerings are especially troublesome. But this was not always the case."

Bob Herbert writes in the Washington Post, "Rape and other forms of sexual assault against women is the great shame of the U.S. armed forces, and there is no evidence that this ghastly problem, kept out of sight as much as possible, is diminishing."

Anne Eggebroten, WeNews commentator, writes, "The "crime" of ending the pregnancy last week in Brazil has earned excommunication for the mother and doctors of the child, but not for the stepfather who apparently sexually abused the child for three years, and her sister as well."

DeNeen L. Brown writes in The Washington Post: "First lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came together onstage yesterday to . . . present the State Department's Award for International Women of Courage to seven activists, including honorees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Malaysia and Uzbekistan.

Aisha S. Taylor and Erin Saiz Hanna write for the National Catholic Reporter, "In an infuriating combination of events, the Vatican rang in Women’s History Month by once again paying lip service to women’s equality while showing its true colors. The day before Pope Benedict XVI called for increased commitment to women’s dignity, a Vatican official announced his support for the excommunications of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped by her stepfather."

Carole Joffe, in the Longview Institute, writes, "...as we enter a new era, with the end of the Bush presidency coinciding with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, I see different types of reproductive horror stories emerging. These stories transcend the abortion divide. They speak squarely to the economic devastation facing Americans across the political spectrum, and how this crisis impacts people's reproductive lives. Three recent items in the news serve as examples."

For the Austin Chronicle, Belinda Acosta writes, "Walking through the Convention Center during the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in years past, it didn't take a demographer to note that the crowd was predominantly white, male, and 30-ish. Not that that's surprising. Internet and computer access largely depend on means, knowledge, and information. But if it's called the World Wide Web, one has to wonder if that world is really that worldly or wide and how broadly that Web is cast and to whom."