Gay Republican Named to Bush AIDS Office
Monday, 9 April 2001

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WASHINGTON -- The openly gay head of the Wisconsin chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans has been named director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, The New York Times reports. Scott Evertz, 38, has had some regional experience in AIDS philanthropy and reportedly has close ties to Tommy G. Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor who is now secretary of health and human services.

Evertz was one of the dozen gay Republicans then-Governor George W. Bush met in Austin, Tx., last year during his presidential campaign, after having refused to meet with the national Log Cabin leaders Rich Tafel and Kevin Ivers.

Recalling the meeting, Evertz told The Times Bush asked for each of their stories. "I told him that the 18-year-old daughter of my partner had just voted for him in the primary, and he seemed pleased and took note of it."

Evertz's selection was hailed by gay Republicans as proof that their policy of engagement with a party traditionally hostile to gay concerns is an effective political strategy for the community. But the choice of Evertz is also expected to generate some controversy.

As a practicing Roman Catholic, Evertz has been active in a group called Catholic AIDS, which provides a range services to people with the disease -- but he is also a vocal opponent of abortion rights and has devoted some of his fundraising efforts to the Wisconsin Right to Life anti-abortion group.

That Evertz has been named to lead an organization the Bush administration was poised to close in February is a point not lost on gay civil rights advocates. The White House clumsily retreated from the move in the face of an unexpectedly potent public outcry.

The hurried naming of an official to lead the administration's AIDS office is rumored by several sources to have been orchestrated in response to recent reports, published in the Washington Post and elsewhere, that the office had been shuttered despite administration reassurances to the contrary.

The naming of an openly gay man is also intended to soften the impression the administration is anti-gay in its outlook. The White House pointedly denies that Evertz's sexual orientation had anything to do with his selection.

"What I appreciate is that the president has said he is appointing people who are qualified and share his philosophy," The Times quotes Evertz as saying. "I haven't been treated like a token."

The administration's new joint task force is to include not only Secretary of State Colin Powell, the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and his domestic policy adviser, Margaret La Montagne.

"This appointment is a very good sign on all levels," The Time's quotes Rich Tafel, executive director of the national Log Cabin Republicans. "AIDS is a very powerful issue in the gay community, and to have an openly gay official chosen on his merit means we shouldn't have to be afraid and closeted for who we are."

-- Editor