The National Organisaiton for Women was the last organisaiton we visited today and it was probably the best. So much belief, vigor and energy was evident in the pursuit of their beliefs. Comparing it to the Human Rights Campaign who campaign for Gay/Lesbian and bisexual rights, whom we had met the previous day the comparison was clear. THe Human Rights Campaign freely admitted they had made sacrifices of some groups, issues in the pursuit of their agenda...for example they stated that studies had shown that Gay men were more prone to homelessness than straight men, but this was not an issue they pursued. This was shown very clearly in the pursit of what they called here the ENDA (Equal Non-Discrimination Act) through Congress. The Democrats felt they could not pass the bill if it included Transgendered people, a line the HRC reluctantly agreed with. Therefore an important part of their community was excluded.

The National Organisaiton for Women took pride in standign for a number of issues with which many people would disagree, e.g. Keep Abortion Legal, Gay Marriage for Lesbians, but still sought to attract people with who would agree wiht the majority of their platform. They also took positions on a wide range of topics - educaiton, healthcare etc. Their line was, there's enough poeple who will compromise - it's for us to be the hardliners, they will not endorse any candidate who does not agree with their full programme. The sense of inclusion  and mission that I felt here was infectious...I really felt they believed what they were doing. It was such a contrast to the HRC where I felt a kind of doom and gloom, maybe they had started feeling that after years of exclusion, they had finally gotten inside the system and not being used to power they had made comprimises and suddenly they the bad guysmthey had been fighting all these years...ah to be an outsider..

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