We're still digesting that great Maryland victory for marriage and boy, so is the other side.

The name-calling has begun!

“Maryland Gay Marriage Debacle Reveals Cowards and Civil Rights Myopia” charged one Washington Post columnist.

Infighting has broken out between national gay leaders and local gay-rights groups in Maryland, with some of the latter calling the decision not to insist on a vote in the Maryland House “a strategic blunder of monstrous proportions.”

“Gill and HRC decided it was detrimental to the larger movement to have the vote go down,” one source said. In an email “HRC's Rouse warned of serious political consequences if a vote on the marriage bill were to be taken. “I plead with you to please delay this vote,” he said. “It would be devastating to suffer a huge loss. There will be vitriol and pain that may take years to soothe.”

But some local pro-SSM activists say the failure to vote this year will doom gay marriage in Maryland for years to come.

“What I fear is next year there’s just not going to be the stomach to do this again,” said one activist, noting the emotional toll the debate took on delegates. “Do you think they will have the stomach to do that again next year without any reasonable expectation of a different outcome because they're still pitching the same ideas to the same audience?”

Let's pray they are right that Maryland politicians will have no stomach for this fight next year--but here at NOM we are keeping our powder dry just in case.