WASHINGTON (MarketWatch — A meeting between a gay hotel owner and Sen. Ted Cruz has ignited a firestorm of charges of “extremism,” fascism” and “totalitarianism” among gays and religious-minded conservatives.

In the latest reverberation, Ian Reisner took to Facebook on Sunday to apologize for a meeting a week ago with the Republican candidate for president to discuss support for Israel. The founder of the New York hotel Out NYC now says he’s “deeply sorry.”

“I made a terrible mistake. I was ignorant, naive and much too quick in accepting a request to co-host a dinner with Cruz at my home without taking the time to completely understand all of his positions on gay rights,” Reisner said. See Ian Reisner’s Facebook page.

“ ‘I made a terrible mistake. I was ignorant, naive and much too quick in accepting a request to co-host a dinner with Cruz at my home without taking the time to completely understand all of his positions on gay rights.’ ” — Ian Reisner

Reisner, a big supporter of Israel, issued his mea culpa after a backlash from gay-rights supporters. They called for a boycott of Reisner’s hotel and had planned a protest in front of his home. Even after his apology, hundreds of posters on his Facebook page said they refused to accept it.

“It is quite simply impossible to believe that you did not understand Cruz’ position on gay rights. You will have to come up with a better excuse than that. Nobody can be that naive or stupid,” one poster wrote.

Cruz, a devout Christian, has sponsored a bill in the Senate to allow states that have passed laws against gay marriage to keep their bans intact. He has also asked Christians to pray while the Supreme Court considers a related case that could strike down gay-marriage bans entirely.

Yet Cruz is also a staunch supporter of Israel and his discussion with Reisner centered almost exclusively on how the U.S. can support the Jewish state in the Middle East.

The discussion only briefly touched upon gay rights. Cruz reportedly told Reisner he thought gay marriage should be left up to the states and that the senator would love one of his daughters “unconditionally” if she turned out to be gay.

“ ‘There is a liberal fascism that is dedicated to going after believing Christians who follow the biblical teaching on marriage.’ ” — Ted Cruz

Still, the event, set up by a gay Republican consultant who reportedly advises Cruz on the Middle East, left many gay-rights supporters furious.

“Right-wing extremists are extremist through and through,” author Jay Michaelson wrote at the Daily Beast. “They’ve got one extreme conservative narrative: It’s us versus them, Americans versus the gays, Freedom Lovers versus Muslims, civilization versus barbarism. … These kinds of dogmatic conservative values are clear, unmistakable, unshakable.”

Cruz, for his part, accused Democrats of practicing a “liberal fascism” that “leaves no room” for Christians whose religious teachings lead them to oppose gay marriage.

And Eric Erickson, editor of the conservative website Redstate, called the backlash against Reisner an example of the “totalitarianism” of the gay-rights movement.

“A pizza restaurateur doesn’t want to cater a gay wedding? Burn the business now. A cake baker doesn’t want to bake a cake? Drive the family into the streets. A fire chief thinks homosexuality is a sin? Fire him,” Erickson wrote. “This is totalitarianism. It is Islamic radicalism minus the death cult. It is America in the 21st century.”