We've already published our 10 biggest political stories of the year. They include the government shutdown, the bungled health-care website rollout, the Edward Snowden leaks, and the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial contests.
But there's a story we forget to include that should have been on the list: gay marriage.
Indeed, when looking back on it, some could argue that 2013 was the year of gay marriage and gay rights expanding.
Think about it:
-- In the past year, gay marriage became legal in seven additional states (Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Rhode Island). That brings the total of states where gay marriage is legal to 17, plus the District of Columbia.
-- The Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, and it (essentially) upheld the 9th Circuit decision overturning California's gay-marriage ban.
-- Numerous Democratic politicians announced their support for gay marriage, as did Republicans Rob Portman (whose son is gay), Mark Kirk, and Lisa Murkowski.
-- The delegation the Obama administration is sending to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia is being led by prominent American gay athletes – ostensibly to protest Russia’s anti-gay laws.
-- And according to an April NBC/WSJ poll, 53% of Americans said they favored gay marriage -- up from only 41% who said this in 2009, and up from just 30% who said it in 2004.
But it's also worth noting the red-blue divide when it comes to the issue.
In that same April NBC/WSJ poll, 73% of Democrats said they supported gay marriage, versus just 27% of Republicans.
What's more, President Barack Obama carried all 17 states where gay marriage is legal in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
And it helps explain the partisan split over A&E suspending "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson over controversial comments he made about homosexuality.
So if 2013 was a year about gay marriage, it's also true that the issue probably isn't going away.