President Bush's nominee for surgeon general has the gay community in uproar.
Dr. James W. Holsinger, who would become the nation's leading spokesperson on public health, is the sole author of a paper that describes gay-male sex as unnatural and unhealthy. He also is associated with a church that allegedly attempts to "cure" non-heterosexual orientation.
Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Congressman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., both of whom sit on a committee that will review Holsinger's nomination, said they had questions about Holsinger's ability to be surgeon general, given views he has expressed in the past about gays and lesbians.
"America's top doctor should be a doctor for all Americans, and so I have serious reservations about nominating someone who would inject his own anti-gay ideology into critical decisions about the health and well-being of our nation," said Obama on Thursday.
"I fear that Dr. Holsinger's previous comments and actions will prevent him from representing each and every individual," Dodd said in a statement.
Holsinger, a University of Kentucky professor and cardiologist, is also president of the Methodist Church's National Judicial Council. Last year, he voted in support of a pastor who blocked a gay man from joining a congregation, and in 2004, he voted to expel a lesbian from the clergy. According to gay-rights activists, his church tries to "cure" gays and lesbians.
Furthermore, Holsinger is the sole author of a 1991 white paper entitled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," prepared for the Committee to Study Homosexuality of the United Methodist Church. In the paper, Holsinger wrote that gay sex goes against the human male's anatomical and physiological "structure and function." By contrast, heterosexual intercourse provides a "complementarity of the human sexes" that is less prone to sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, he wrote.
"We know that all kinds of people [heterosexual and homosexual] use their bodies in ways with their partners to express their love. The question is, is it appropriate to focus on the sexual practices of a particular group to pathologize them?" says Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the San Francisco-based Gay & Lesbian Medical Association.
"There's a political and religious effort to demonize homosexuals, and it concerns me that once again President Bush is looking to a person who is identified with a particular faith community in a way that may be exclusive of other communities," adds Ginsberg. "If you want to talk about what's medically relevant then talk about risky behavior in general and methods to cover those risks."
Holsinger has declined to comment publicly because his nomination is still pending before the Senate.
The Holsinger nomination is being called a political ploy by Bush because of the issues it has raised--issues that will rile religious fervor in both parties and pit Democratic presidential contenders between religiously inclined anti-gay voters and voters who support gay rights. Both Obama and Dodd serve on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will conduct the hearings that would precede a vote on Holsinger's confirmation. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairs the committee. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., another presidential contender, is a member as well.
A hearing has yet to be scheduled, but Holsinger is expected to meet individually with senators on the committee in late June.
Holsinger served as Kentucky's health secretary and chancellor of the University of Kentucky's medical center. He taught at several medical schools and spent more than three decades in the Army Reserve, retiring in 1993 as a major general.
Holsinger does have his supporters. In addition to the White House releasing a statement Thursday supporting the nomination but not mentioning the 1991 paper, the Department of Health and Human Services, which will take the lead on trying to achieve Holsinger's confirmation, is lending its support. Holly Babin, a spokesperson for the Department of Heath and Human Services, insisted that the paper was by no means reflective of Holsinger's thinking.
"That paper was a survey of scientific peer-reviewed studies that he was asked to compile by the United Methodist Church, it's not that he was saying, 'This is what I believe,'" Babin said to ABC News. "It's a reflection of the available scientific data from the 1980s. It should be noted that in 1991, homosexuals were banned from the military and several years before that, homosexuality and Haitian nationality were considered risk factors for HIV/AIDS. Over the last 20 years, a clearer understanding of these issues has been achieved."
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