Color Them Lavender. (Insider report).

During his presidential campaign, George W. Bush worked hard to establish his red, white, and blue conservative bona fides in contrast to the blatantly anti-American, scandal-ridden Clinton administration. Now that he's president, though, George W. Bush and other leaders in the Republican party are starting to show their lavender colors as well. As a recent article by AP writer David Crary in the Washington Post made clear, the homosexual lobby is quietly exulting that they've found a Republican champion in George W. "Bit by bit," wrote Crary, "the evidence accumulates, and some conservatives are dismayed at what they see: A Republican administration sending low-key but clear signals that gays are welcomed in its ranks and respected as a voting bloc." As Robert Knight, the executive director of the Culture and Family Institute, lamented: "You'd almost think they were Democrats trying to infiltrate what makes the Republican Party distinctive. The record so far has been pretty bad.... Shockingly so, given the s upport Bush received from evangelical Christians."

In fact, George W. Bush has been borrowing from a very old Republican electoral playbook: throw rhetorical sops to social and religious conservatives while campaigning, then move to the left once elected. In the case of the homosexual lobby, Bush has already shown solidarity by appointing openly homosexual men as the head of the Office of National AIDS Policy and as Ambassador to Romania, and declined to oppose an amendment approved by the House of Representatives allowing domestic partnership benefits for homosexual employees of the District of Columbia.

According to Scott Evertz, the openly homosexual Wisconsin activist appointed as the new AIDS policy director, "the average American isn't at a point where they can endorse gay marriage or domestic partnerships - the president isn't endorsing those concepts at this point. But he does believe gays and lesbians ought to be treated with dignity and respect."

Many other prominent Republicans seem to be following Bush's lead. Colin Powell, in a move that infuriated some conservatives, openly acknowledged the "partner" of the new Ambassador to Romania Michael Guest at the swearing-in ceremony. Govemor George Pataki earned kudos from the New York homosexual community when he announced that partners of homosexuals killed in the World Trade Center disaster would be eligible for state assistance. And Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon is making a name for himself as a champion of homosexual rights, recently drawing attention by speaking at the October 6th annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a major homosexual lobbying group.

The Republican Party, with the new Bush administration in the lead, is courting the homosexual lobby as shamelessly as the Clintons ever did, under the cover of "compassionate conservatism." As Winnie Stachelberg, the Human Rights Campaign's political director, observed, "Clearly within the Republican Party, there is movement on gay and lesbian issues." True enough; but how far, ultimately, do these new Republicans intend to move?