Progress...

[Timothy]

Tim,
From my understanding moral nihilism is the belief that there are no inherent moral values. This does not stop people from having subjective moral values, this is where I think you are getting confused.

Typically moral nihilism involves the denial of any truth claims with respect to moral values and obligations, be they "objective" or "subjective". In any case, my point applies to ethical subjectivism and moral relativism equally - if the notion of progress is simply dependent on personal preference, then what sense does it make to ask questions about whether, for example, progress has been made in the case of gay marriage? It can no longer be a question about which there can be substantive debate (since there is no standard by which such a debate could be measured against), but only the sharing of various personal preferences. It becomes a question akin to "What is your favourite genre of music?" or "Which is better: coffee or tea?"