Health.

STUDY

Gay sex on the rise

Americans are having more gay sex than ever, according to a study published in the Journal of Sex Research. The percentage of men who say they have recently had gay sex has doubled in the past 10 years, from 2% to 4%. The percentage of women saying the same has gone up 15-fold, from 0.2% to nearly 3%.

Study author Amy Butler, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Iowa, said an increase in tolerance toward lesbians and gay men during the past decade likely accounts for the increases. "A more accepting and tolerant environment may make some people more comfortable in exploring their sexual interests in people of the same sex," she said. But Butler cautioned that the study does not estimate the percentage of people who are gay or lesbian, because some respondents may have experimented with same-gender sex but still identify as heterosexual. --Bob Adams

WHITE HOUSE

AIDS inaction

The future of the Office of National AIDS Policy under George W. Bush is unclear, and statements from the White House haven't helped ease the confusion.

Bush's staff in February announced the elimination of the office, but a day later reversed course. Then the president claimed he was going to appoint a top-level health official to head the office, with Whitman-Walker Clinic executive director A. Cornelius Baker and gay former U.S. representative Steve Gunderson floated as candidates. Finally the Administration said it was physically moving the AIDS policy office into the White House to better coordinate the office's work with the Domestic Policy Council. But the promises have yet to turn into action.

At press time, the AIDS office was in limbo--located neither at its old digs at 736 Jackson Place nor in the White House. Its move and the naming of a new director are expected within the next few weeks, following the Administration's planned addition of international and interagency components to the office's mission, said White House spokesman Ken Lisaius. --B.A.