The appointment was met with muted delight by gay and lesbian rights organizations, and earnest disappointment in conservative circles, with no one on either side quite sure what it meant in the long term. It's the latest confusing twist to President Bush's awkward dance with gay and lesbian groups.

"We're not that happy about it," admitted Heather Cirmo, spokeswoman for the conservative Family Research Council. "Not even Clinton appointed an openly homosexual person in this position."

Cirmo said that gay rights would probably be the issue over which Bush and Christian conservatives would butt heads most during the next four years.

"We've had signs from the beginning that the Bush administration was not going to help us that much in our efforts to stem the tide of homosexual activism," said Cirmo.

News that Evertz, president of the Wisconsin chapter of the Log Cabin Society, a Republican gay and lesbian rights organization, was to be appointed the nation's first openly gay AIDS czar -- as well as the first openly gay individual to ever be appointed to a paid position in a Republican White House -- was reported first by the Washington Post.

David Smith, spokesman for the pro-gay-rights Human Rights Campaign, heralded the appointment as "a positive sign," but did question the timing of the announcement -- on the same day that President Bush announced his proposed budget, which offers no new funding for AIDS prevention programs. The funding Bush has proposed for Ryan White HIV/AIDS care and prevention programs remains at $1.8 billion. "That's not keeping up with the impact of the disease," Smith says. "And there's only a 2 percent increase in prevention money."

The Family Research Council's Cirmo wasn't concerned about the timing -- she just seemed aghast that Bush would appoint someone who's "not just ... a gay person, but a gay activist."

"What particularly disturbs us is the quote in the paper today that Scott Evertz wants to remove the stigma attached to homosexuality and AIDS," she said. "We wonder what that means. It's certainly not in line with President Bush's agenda promoting abstinence until marriage as the healthiest lifestyle choice."

Smith downplayed the significance of the fact that Evertz is "openly gay." "There were 152 'out' gays and lesbians serving at the end of the Clinton administration," he said. He also noted that the move was not entirely unprecedented since, in 1987, President Reagan appointed an openly gay man to a nonpaid position on an AIDS advisory panel -- Dr. Frank Lilly, chairman of the genetics department at Albert Einstein College and an ex-board member of the Gay Men's Health Crisis organization -- also setting off a firestorm on the right.

Smith was full of praise for what Evertz brings to the table. "He has a backbone," Smith said. "He's strong on leadership. And clearly, he's close to [Health and Human Services] Secretary Tommy Thompson." Bush has delegated the AIDS issue to Thompson and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Smith said, which reassured AIDS activists since Thompson was considered to be active on AIDS issues as governor of Wisconsin, and Powell is considered a moderate on social issues. Powell, according to one lobbyist devoted to conservative social issues, actually is far more liberal than Evertz himself.

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