The Vacuum Created by HRC

A lot in the gay blogosphere lately critical of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest and most well-funded gay lobby.

Chris Crain has a good round up here. Michael Petrelis has also been on the case.

In general, I think the criticism is justified. But I also think HRC just doesn't want to be the kind of organization that is really needed today -- a powerful organization that marshalls national resources to battle locally. It may be sexy to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment -- an outcome that was pre-ordained with or without HRC -- but the real work is happening in places like Wyoming and New Hampshire. Yet flip to HRC's homepage and you'll see nothing about those struggles.

There's a vacuum, a need, and it isn't being filled by HRC. Perhaps it's time to stop wasting energy trying to make HRC into something it doesn't want to be and figure out how to create the national gay civil rights organization that is so clearly needed.