San Francisco's powerful civil rights organizations and Democratic leadership greeted Walker's nomination with howls of protest. They branded him hostile and "insensitive" to gay and lesbian rights because of his representation of the U.S. Olympic Committee in a lawsuit against the Gay Olympics over the use of the Olympics brand. The protests continued unabated for two years before Walker was finally confirmed during the first Bush administration.

Now, Walker is the toast of the gay community, the author this week of an unprecedented ruling striking down California's ban on same-sex marriage because it violates the equal rights of gay and lesbian couples. And he is a villain to conservative foes of same-sex marriage, who've branded him an "activist judge" and peppered the blogosphere with accusations that he is biased because he is gay, which has been known in San Francisco legal circles and among his colleagues for years.