GINGRICH KINDER, GENTLER ON GAYS . . . SORT OF

House Speaker-to-beNewt Gingrichthinks the Republican Party ought to tolerate homosexuality -- which he called an orientation "like alcoholism is an orientation" -- and leave gay matters out of public policy, if an April interview he gave a Washington, D.C. paper that covers gay issues still holds water. In Friday's edition of The Washington Blade, the Georgia Republican said, "I think that on most things most days, the vast majority of practicing homosexuals are good citizens." The GOP's position on homosexuality, he said, "should be toleration . . . It should not be promotion and it should not be condemnation. I don't want to see police in the men's room, which we had when I was a child, and I don't want to see trying to educate kindergartners in understanding gay couples." Gingrich, who's since been denounced by gay groups for his Contract With America, was vaguer on whether homosexuality was an aberrant lifestyle: He acknowledged a "bias" toward homosexuality, but said he was more confident about the "bias in favor of heterosexual marriage and heterosexual couples raising children."Post your opinion on theWashingtonbulletin board.