If the reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 did not make this clear, some supporters of same-sex do not merely wish to prevail in the battle over public policy and in the court of public opinion. They do not simply want to keep the beliefs of conservative Christians from affecting how government policy treats same-sex couples. They want to completely marginalize opposition to same-sex marriage and treat traditional Christian beliefs about human sexuality as morally equivalent to racism or anti-Semitism. Consider this paragraph in Byron York’s piece on the Rick Warren controversy:

For some gay groups, the inclusion of [civil rights leader Joseph] Lowery doesn’t undo what they see as the damage done by the Warren invitation. “To say that we’re going to kick off the program with a known homophobe and end it with somebody who’s good on our issues doesn’t really cut it for us,” Luna told me. “I don’t think any Jewish Americans would feel much comfort in knowing that an anti-Semite is starting the inauguration with an invocation, but we’re going to end it with a rabbi.”

In their view, Rick Warren’s fidelity to his religious beliefs — as strongly and passionately felt as his opponents’ — is no different than having a neo-Nazi or anti-Semite give the invocation. And perhaps not as appropriate as having the prayer delivered by Jeremiah Wright.