paul m. smith: right, the groups have been working together for 20 years at that point. first on the sodomy issue and then on the marriage issue erred --. they got with only one state two states having marriage equality was too soon to ask that supreme court to nationalize it. on the other hand, the fact that proposition 8 had been overruled, it meant for people in california there was no other option than a federal claim. that was the dilemma everyone faced in 2009 after the 2008 election. there was a disagreement about whether to go ahead and ask the supreme court to recognize marriage equality in that year. the movement was still aware of problems caused by bowers versus hardwick. into the generation to get rid of that decision. when you lose in the court, it can make things considerably worse than if you had never gone there in the first place. the disagreement over that issue, while emotional at the time has gone away. people have worked effectively at litigating the case. the experts were pre