Conservative withdraws from Bush AIDS panel

? A Christian activist chosen by the Bush administration for an AIDS advisory panel withdrew his name under pressure Thursday after criticism of his characterization of the disease as the “gay plague.”

The administration had asked Jerry Thacker to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS. He was to be sworn in with other new commission members next week by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

In a letter to Thompson, Thacker, a Pennsylvania marketing consultant, said his statements had been misconstrued but he was no longer willing to accept the appointment.

Thacker contracted the AIDS virus in 1986 after his wife was infected during a blood transfusion received during childbirth. Their daughter born of that pregnancy also is HIV-positive.

That experience led the Bob Jones University graduate to found the Scepter Institute to promote his workshops, books and videos on the topic of AIDS. But the content of his speeches and writings led to severe criticism from gay rights groups and others when the news of his selection as a White House adviser surfaced.

At one point, Thacker’s biography on the Scepter Web site referred to AIDS as the “gay plague.” It now calls AIDS a “plague.”