EDITOR'S NOTE: In late May, the White House announced that it would not appoint an openly gay person to the president's new commission on acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Gary L. Bauer, the president's domestic policy adviser, said the administration was opposed to naming a member to the commission—recommended last year by the National Academy of Sciences—solely because he or she was gay. June Osborn, dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, organized a group of distinguished AIDS researchers who sent President Reagan, by way of Bauer, a telegram protesting the decision. The scientists expressed alarm at the thought of excluding a homosexual from the panel and hoped to influence the panel's makeup. The text of the telegram follows.
Dear Mr. President:
We applaud your commitment to empanel an effective and credible national commission to supplement the superb efforts of the United States Public Health Service and the...
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