AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. George W. Bush met for an hour Thursday with a dozen gay Republicans, a meeting that he later said made him a "better person" but did not persuade him to reverse his opposition to gay marriage.

Flanked by the gay Republicans at a news conference at his campaign headquarters, the party's presumptive presidential nominee said he welcomed gays into his campaign and added, "I want the Republicans, conservative Republicans, to understand we judge people based upon their heart and soul; that's what this campaign is about."

Although Bush did not indicate that he had changed any of his views, the meeting and very public news conference were important symbolic steps for a candidate who is trying to hold together a fractious party that runs the spectrum from religious conservatives to moderates.

And in a similar vein, Bush said Thursday that he would meet in Pittsburgh next month with Sen. John McCain, who attracted thousands of moderate voters during his bitter primary race with Bush. "I'm looking forward to it a lot," Bush said. "I'm sure that John and I will have a very constructive conversation."

The Arizona senator said he would meet with Bush on May 9, but he said he was still not ready to endorse the Texas governor.

The gay Republicans who met with Bush included several former or current elected officials. Members of the group said that several told the governor their personal stories and then segued into issues, including their desire to keep the Republican National Convention free from anti-homosexual language. In 1992, the convention that renominated Bush's father featured Pat Buchanan's declaration of a "cultural war" on gay rights and abortion.

David Catania, a Republican city councilman from Washington, said Bush was intrigued by the idea of having a gay speaker at the convention, though not necessarily on gay issues. The Republicans mentioned Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, an expert on trade issues.

Steve Gunderson, a gay former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, said of the session with Bush: "The goal was not to change his mind. It was to start a conversation."

Across the campaign year, Bush has given out conflicting signals on how he feels about issues of concern to homosexuals. During the primary season, he expressed no interest in meeting with the Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization of gay Republicans.

But since the primaries Bush has been striving to move back to the center and to court moderate and swing voters through a series of initiatives on education, the environment and health care. His appearance with the gay Republicans, aides said, sent an important message of tolerance to such voters.

"These are individuals who've got interesting stories to tell and it's important for the next president to listen to people's real-life stories," Bush said. "These are people from our neighborhoods, people with whom all of us went to school, people who generally care about America, and I appreciate them sharing their stories with me. And I'm mindful that we're all God's children."

Bush's aides Thursday pointed to the governor's recent uptick in the polls to say that they saw no lasting damage from the primaries, when Bush appealed to conservative voters, most notably in South Carolina, to defeat McCain.

They also said that because Bush consolidated his base vote in the primaries, he was freer than past Republican presidential nominees to now move toward the center. For instance, Bob Dole, the previous Republican nominee, returned contributions from gay donors.

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But the difficulties of Bush's balancing act were still clear Thursday. Janet Parshall, a spokesman for the Family Research Council, a family values group said that if Bush included a homosexual speaker at the party convention, "what he is going to have to do then is understand there will be a clarion call for someone to speak in defense of traditional values."

"The last time I checked," Parshall said, the homosexual agenda is not a part of the party platform; therefore, in this case, an appearance would be worth a thousand words, and then he would have trouble in River City."

Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate, also had qualms about a gay speaker, saying: "I think the qualification for a speaker to the Republican convention ought to be whether that speaker embraces the Republican agenda, which includes opposition to same-sex marriage, to adding sexual preference to civil rights laws, and so forth."

From the other side of the spectrum, the campaign of Vice President Al Gore sharply criticized Bush. "George W. Bush is a right-wing conformer without results," said Chris Lehane, a spokesman for Gore. "During the primary, he was the candidate of divisiveness and intolerance, and he still has a great deal of explaining to do."

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