Apr 22, 2005  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Joseph O’Neill, the gay doctor and AIDS expert who has served since August 2003 as deputy coordinator of the State Department’s global AIDS office, is returning to the White House this week to work on domestic AIDS programs, a State Department spokesperson said.

The White House had yet to announce O’Neill’s job change as of late this week, and a White House press spokesperson did not return calls seeking information on O’Neill’s new job duties and job title as the Blade went to press.

O’Neill told representatives of at least three national AIDS organizations on Tuesday that he would be working with Carol Thompson, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and the White House domestic policy staff to help President Bush develop plans to revise the Ryan White CARE Act.

Prior to working at the global AIDS office, O’Neill served since July 2002 as director of the White House AIDS office, with Thompson serving as his deputy.

State Department spokesperson Noel Clay said O’Neill circulated an e-mail message to his colleagues at the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, where O’Neill is deputy coordinator and medical director, saying he would be leaving that post permanently and going back to the White House “for a time.”

Clay said the White House had not named a replacement for O’Neill at the global AIDS office, which is headed by former pharmaceutical industry executive Randall Tobias.

The Ryan White Act, which expires in October, authorizes the federal government to provide more than a billion dollars in aid to cities and states for medical treatment and social services for people with HIV and AIDS. The act enjoys widespread, bipartisan support in Congress, and GOP lawmakers are said to be waiting for the White House to submit a proposed bill or specific recommendations to extend the act for another five years.

Faith-based direction
In a speech before a Baptist church in Philadelphia last June, Bush pledged to give full support for the continuation of the Ryan White program, drawing praise from AIDS advocacy groups. But he created a stir among some AIDS activists by pledging to take steps to expand Ryan White funding to more faith-based organizations and churches that seek to provide AIDS-related services.

Although most gay rights and AIDS activists have said they don’t object to religious-oriented groups receiving federal funds to provide AIDS services, they have expressed strong opposition to funding groups that seek exemptions from local and state civil rights laws, including laws that ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation, for the hiring of employees.

Most gay rights groups, including the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign, have said faith-based groups receiving federal funds should be required to comply with non-discrimination statutes related to the hiring of workers.

The White House has supported exempting faith-based groups from complying with non-discrimination rules set by state and local laws, on the principle that religious groups should be allowed to hire members of their own religion or faith to run AIDS-related programs.

O’Neill, who has received praise from gay rights groups, could become embroiled in a heated battle on Capitol Hill over the civil rights exemption issue, according to sources familiar with the White House. The House of Representatives has already passed legislation providing faith-based groups with exemptions from certain civil rights laws pertaining to employment. The Senate is considering similar legislation.

One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said O’Neill would likely have to contend with White House political director Karl Rove and newly installed White House domestic policy chief Claude Allen. Both are closely aligned with the religious right faction of the Republican Party. Rove is credited with developing Bush’s strategy of endorsing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to help shore up support from evangelical Christian voters in the 2004 presidential election.

Rove and Allen are expected to play a role in drafting a White House initiated bill to reauthorize the Ryan White Act.

AIDS advocacy groups see O’Neill’s return to the White House to work on the Ryan White proposal as a positive development.

“Joe knows the program inside and out,” said Christine Dubinski, executive director of the HIV Medical Association, one of the two national AIDS group officials who met with O’Neill ...