Should there be a focus of energy and resources at the national level?
Apart from another ten years of listening to people complain that the HRC is a lobby organization, not an equal rights organization, here is a biting perspective why the national level is just the same, politically, as the local:
Those seeking marriage equality have to tiptoe through the landmines of Trenton. It is an indignity that is borne by any group looking for equality in a system that has been gamed like a forested preserve flush with deer....
In New Jersey, the moral high ground is politically appealing only when there is a no-bid contract to pave it.
In New Jersey, the moral high ground is politically appealing only when there is a no-bid contract to pave it.
Until rights activists can show that they can move the electorate, at the grass roots, Washington is deaf, Left and Right. That is why these local fights are worth it, to hone skills and more.
The national effort is defined, instead, as how best to coordinate local efforts into an overall, effective strategy. The right kind of local victories can mean something on the national level. That is the only force multiplier that is available, that I can see, for a 5% minority to try to launch such an effort...
"Let's wait for Boies/Olsen", to my mind, ranks up there with 'let's wait to see if they collect enough signatures for the ballot initiative', etc. That's NOT a blame statement, it's a realization that the time is always now. There are no shortcuts, unless one just wants to pin hopes on the generational shift, which is not as sure a thing as some may wish.
