The Chicago Sun-Times columnist weighs in...

The look-how-far-we've-come aspect of Obama's triumph was mitigated by citizens in California, Florida and Arizona voting to bar gay marriage. An awful intrusion of government into the private sphere, one we would never tolerate if it didn't touch upon the American obsession with sex. I mean, we'd never ban gays from holding fishing licenses, arguing that they somehow spoil the fishing experience for the rest of us.

But religious conservatives have cooked up this palpable lie about gays and marriage, based on nothing at all, and the public has accepted it because it tickles the unexamined biases they already have.

Just like civil rights, this is a generational war that will be won, I have absolutely no doubt, in the fullness of time. But not yet.