This quote deserves to be highlighted:

"The group still has no formal bylaws, a budget, mission statement or organizational structure."

Ummm, yeah.

Exactly, Mad Professah. What a sad waste of energy, resources and emotional energies that all could have been channeled into something with tangible political yield.

(And if there were 200,000 at the march, then the Capitol Building is made of icing, and I can sell it to you for a good price.)

For the record, that payment was spread over four months, not three. My stipend began in July, not August, and I averaged just over $2K/month. Robin was not paid at all.

Besides chanting "equality now" this group never seemed to have a clear plan or series of goals. If it had any money left it should have turned it over to the campaigns in Maine and Washington State and bowed out gracefully.

If this is the outcome of all the hard work and the "being grassroots" and different that everyone talked about...

Then, we should be ashamed of ourselves and never speak another ill word about the HRC or any other LGBT organization.

I marched because I believed and still do believe we can make a change by standing up and being counted.

But I'm wondering if past experience with some of the EAA players caused consternation and the lack of upfront support in the very beginning from other gay organizations.

There are several "big Heads" here and not just Mr. Jones.

First, I cannot tell you how wonderful and charismatic Robin and Kip are, and how much of a difference they are making at the local, state and national levels. They are treasures for the LGBT community and represent an energetic, fair, transparent and inclusive future in LGBT activism that we all should embrace. It is my greatest hope that we all support them and people like them in whatever they do – and that support includes constructive criticism and sharing of expertise – in order to keep the LGBT movement sustainable and growing. We are perilously close to full equality for all, and we need as many capable hands on deck as possible. I'm sad to say the status quo in LGBT organizational politics will not make that happen, and I for one am working for evolution in the way we organize.

I have great admiration for Cleve Jones. He is part of our movement's "greatest generation", and he has many accomplishments for which he (and we) should be very proud. I am grateful that he worked tirelessly to ensure our community remained energized and inspired through the March.

However, I would be doing my community a disservice if I ignored my long-held belief that any community event whose publicity centers so much around one individual is a recipe for trouble. I also would be doing my community a disservice if I did not say that Cleve Jones has a history of broken promises and not playing well with others. Please look at what happened with the Names Project, the results of the settlement and the broken promises Jones made about what he would do with the settlement for evidence of this history. I point to this out of love and respect for our community, not out of an interest in character assassination.

I hate having to bring this up, as I am not into the petty scandal side of things, but our community needs people who unite, who keep their promises and can help LGBT people deliver on their potential in ways we have not seen before. I am not clear Mr. Jones, while a very admirable human being who has sacrificed a great deal to make the March happen, is the right person to shepherd a movement beyond the March at this time.

First of all, I'm not surprised at this report. Ad hoc organizations often have birthing/growing pains, and many simply fold their tent and steal away into the night.

I too question the utility of NEM to influence the Beltway decision makers. Marches on Washington are almost a daily occurrence, and Congress simply tunes them out. Barney Frank was right in that respect; grassroots organizing at the local level--"think global but act local"--is an essential part of getting to where we want to be.

Perhaps, the one beneficial result of NEM will be the mobilization of the next generation of activists. However, that result may wind up being wasted if no follow-up in their home states or home towns happens.

Why is it that everytime Cleve gets involved with something there seems to be a lawsuit somwhere. I admire much of what Cleve has done, but the man has an ego bigger than the size of Texas.

This is a sad if not completely unexpected day. The most important thing I have to say can be said simply that Robin and Kip (and the entire team) took personal possession of the struggle for equality and we are in a different world today as a result. And, they performed far better than any of us had a right to expect. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude, whether they were paid $9,000 or $90,000.

Beyond that, I think there are many many lessons to be learned and decisions to be made, but for now, I'd just make one point: Whether or not there is an EAA in our future, let's not wait around for someone to form an organization!! We have plenty of old organizations and plenty of newly minted ones! This is especially important for thousands of new activists who reacted to Prop 8 by getting behind the March. If 200,000 of us can show up in DC at one time, why can't we show up at one time at HRC, at the Task Force, at our state's local organizations, and in the offices of Barney Frank and demand to be a part of the strategy to achieve full equality? Didn't we learn that if we don't show up we have no right to expect change? Let's honor Robin and Kip's service by doing what they did: By taking personal possession of the struggle for equality.

This is a sad but predictible end for something that was put together with very little planning beyond "we hate HRC, let's do something!"

I agree that the millions of dollars spent by the participants of NEM could have been put to better, longer-lasting use elsewhere.

It's almost funny that when faced with the question of "where do we go from here" they are finding they probably need to adopt the same strategies that they criticized in the lead up to the march.

Sounds like things were promised and not delivered.

But I thought Cleve was not the "front man" for this organization. Why would his attitude cause you to resign?

I didn't read ALL of these comments yet, but the negative, unproductive ones were no doubt written by people who were not there. I WAS. I supported the Steering Committee, who by-the-way did an amazing job. Why are people always so fast to whine about what wasn't good--nothing's perfect. Why whine--and do nothing. Why focus on the problems. They were outweighed by the good every moment of the way. Kip and Robin are amazing people and were only TWO of the many I was honored to meet and work with. The feeling while marching and watching the grounds fill up with all those people in solidarity was inspiring and awe-making. I am so proud to have been a small part of it. My friends, Derek--who will get over being upset because he is dynamic, Chris--who did an amazing faith-based forum and has a beautiful heart, Leo--who reported beautifully and is incredible, Laura--who is always amazing, Dennis--who is so smart and lovable--will stay in my heart and my memory of that historic event.

I had entirely personal reasons for attending the march, holding signs, bringing friends, taking pictures, updating facebook etc. I never even knew who was in the organization behind it - I knew it would be big and I wanted to help. I was right. It was huge.

I don't think it's necessary for the organization to become any bigger than a networking tool. We went to Washington, we made our point and we're not shutting up...
As long as NEM doesn't turn into another group of democratic party fundraisers who are backed by Nike, Shell Oil and Haliburton (Are you listening, HRC?) - they will be fine.

The unfortunate state of affairs that our community finds itself in should not be relished by any members of our community...

The CDAT's that have been formed around the country are desperately seeking leadership from the top! What we all need to do is band together while the EAA figures itself out.

The NEM wasn't about a numbers game, it wasn't about who could bring the most people into the NEM, and it wasn't about what the EAA's role would be in the future, it was about creating a climate for activism in our local communities! Mr. Jones feels that he has the best answers for our community, but I'm confident that our local CDAT's would much rather prefer to have more of a home base instead of a headquarters...

The EAA could play a vital role in the future of LGBT grassroots with key players like Robin, Kip, Derek, and the others from the executive and steering commitee, but we will all have to hope their differences can be resolved quickly.

Local CDAT's are waiting marching orders at this very moment as we wrap up the week of initiative... it is very unfortunate again that we're being held up by politics. Full Federal Equality is our national goal, because we see that our former state by state approach is getting us nowhere, and it's emboldening the opposition... whatever your opinion of the EAA at this very moment in time may be, you can certainly agree that someone needs to step up and take the reigns in a just manner in order to keep our momentum going before we lose the rest of New England to our opposition!