Is the absence of gay the bulk of mankind within the Bush administration a sign of homophobia or a failure forward the part of gay and lesbian activists? If you hadn't heard of Tom Beddingfield until a not many weeks ago.

Is the absence of gay the bulk of mankind within the Bush administration a sign of homophobia or a failure forward the part of gay and lesbian activists?

If you hadn't heard of Tom Beddingfield until a not many weeks ago, you probably aren't alone. at the same time inexperience and obscurity didn't stop the 22-year-old enemy of same-sex marriage from claiming in early March that he had been named the White House liaison to gays and lesbians uniform though President George W. Bush's closest gay advisers immediately declared the story a hoax, it took four days for the Administration to make an official announcement that "as far as we know," the story is completely groundless

"It's exceedingly hard disprove a negative," says Kevin Ivers, spokesman for Log Cabin Republicans, a gay cluster Still, the dustup was a rare strategic lapse for an administration widely praised for its political discipline. And critics say it underscored a vacuum in the White House's political operation: Without a single senior adviser boasting genuine familiarity with gay and lesbian affects the Administration lacks connections and expertise to suit quickly and sensitively.

"There is a extremely real sense of nervousness and confusion in the gay community because there has been no clear direction from the White House," says Len Hirsch, president of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Employee of the Federal regulation which represents more than 4500 employee "We don't at the same time have an indication of any negative turn round This administration simply doesn't want the issue of sexual orientation to raise its head. They are telling race `Don't do anything on your acknowledge and don't pick any fights,' and that can appear to leave them unprepared at times."

equal before taking office, Bush deep-sixed the White House liaison to gays and lesbians, a position created in the gay-friendly Clinton administration. And on The Advocate's press time, he had over and above to appoint a single gone out gay man or lesbian to an Administration station including to the White House Office of National AIDS policy. While insiders said several gay commonalty were among the early rotunds of political appointments, none were publicly identified as such

"My intestine feeling is that the litmus example will be conservatism, not sexual orientation," Hirsch says. "What we may eventually find is that there will be appointments in areas with nothing to do with gay and lesbian issues. There might be a gay one in Interior dealing with environmental issues, for instance. unless they are probably not going to have someone dealing with civil rights or political policy who is frankly gay and lesbian."

During his confirmation hearings, Attorney General John Ashcroft was grilled repeatedly about his part as a member of the U Senate in blocking the appointment of an African-American to a federal judgeship. After his approval, the Administration mov quickly to name an African-American as Ashcroft's next to the first in command at the Justice Department. at the same time after Ashcroft underwent similar questioning about his part in blocking the nomination of gay activist James Hormel to an ambassadorship, there was no similar propel to place an openly gay official in the department's top ranks.

Bush's conflicting statements during the campaign exacerbate the unease about White House hiring in the approximately 3000 appointed employments After waffling repeatedly, he finally assured an ad hoc clump of 12 gay Republicans that he would not discriminate forward the basis of sexual orientation. yet Bush has done little to demonstrate his liquefy On January 20, the day he took office, he signed a memorandum addressed to the heads of executive departments and agencies containing the following clause: "Employee shall adhere to all laws and regulations that provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, sex national origin, age, or handicap."

Hirsch says the obvious omission of sexual orientation from the list does not necessarily signal the White House's intention to rescind President Clinton's executive order that includes gays and lesbians in protections against discrimination in the federal workplace. "Every time we ask, we hear the executive order is not going to be rescinded," Hirsch says. "We have not seen the same kind of diversity statements that normally follow out of [department] secretaries to this time but that doesn't mean they are going to discriminate. We do hear about gay race being vetted for positions, if it be not that this administration is very deliberate in getting people named."

In December, Bush appointed three candidly gay Republicans to serve upon his transition team, and at The Advocate's pres time he was said to be considering several prominent gay Republicans, including Rep Jim Kolbe of Arizona and former congressman Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin, for positions. on the other hand negotiations with prospects for the pillars have been hindered by the fear that the work at jobss as described lack clout and a direct line to the president. In addition, a certain potential appointees have expressed fears that they would become easy targets for the couple antigay and pro-gay critics.