Reagan Expected to Name Homosexual to AIDS Panel

President Reagan is expected to include a homosexual on a list of appointees that this week will round out the membership of a high-level federal advisory commission on AIDS, Administration officials said today.

The officials said Reagan has approved a list of 12 additional members for appointment to the commission he created by executive order last month. At the time, he named Mayo Clinic endocrinologist W. Eugene Mayberry as chairman.

Last week, Reagan expanded the size of the panel to 13 members from 11.

The New York Times reported today that Reagan tentatively plans to include a homosexual with “a medical background” on the panel, formally known as the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic.

Newsweek magazine reported that the appointee will be a New York doctor active in the gay rights movement.

The White House has been under pressure from gay activists and some AIDS specialists to include a homosexual on the panel, on the ground that that segment of the population has been hardest hit by the disease.

In the executive order that established the commission, Reagan said only that its members “shall be distinguished individuals who have experience in such relevant disciplines as medicine, epidemiology, virology, law, insurance, education and public health.”