President Bush has choosen Scott Evertz to head the new Office of National AIDS Policy in the Bush Administration. Scott Evertz, leader of the Log Cabin Republicans in Wisconsin, is the first openly gay person nominated to an executive branch office by a Republican president.

The nomination of Scott Evertz has overt significance because it represents an opening up of the Republican Party to embrace homosexuals. However, the real significance of the nomination is creating the possibility of a homosexual swing vote. There is a large block of people in this country who are gay, who are not deeply committed to either party, who vote Republican, or who are Democrats who will vote for Republicans or who will vote for people like Jesse Ventura, radical centrists. When those people have an alternative to the Democratic Party, both parties will have to fight for the gay swing vote. As a swing vote block of Independents, our power becomes real.

Political dependence on the Democratic Party has had its consequences for gays. I believe the consequences of that dependence has not been particularly good for gays. It has meant that because gays are predominantly identified as Democrats, Republicans have typically had no use for us because they weren't getting our vote anyway; that moderates also had no use for us, because they were so turned off by some of the extreme rhetoric and by some of the extreme behavior that they saw from gays and lesbians. And perhaps worst of all, the Democrats used us as doormats, for the most part.

After eight years of the Clinton Administration, gays have basically noticed Clinton has not done a thing for them. What we do have, after eight years of Clinton, is two extremely anti-gay pieces of legislation on the books: the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

I certainly think it is nice to be met with at the Whitehouse, and it is nice to have the odd appointment or two, the ambassadorship to Luxembourg. I'm all for that. But, this is not enough.

Still, the nomination of Scott Evertz is very welcome. The Human Rights Campaign, our largest gay political group, has praised this appointment. This is a step in the right direction. Opening up the Republican Party to embrace homosexuals is a step in the right direction so that gays do not have to be dependent upon the Democratic Party.