[Dialogue] Gay Rights Groups Decry Surgeon General Nominee

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Thursday, June 7, 2007 by Associated Press <http://www.ap.org>


Gay Rights Groups Decry Surgeon General Nominee

By Jeffrey McMurray

LEXINGTON, Ky. - President Bush's nominee for surgeon general, Kentucky
cardiologist Dr. James Holsinger, has come under fire from gay rights groups
for voting to expel a lesbian pastor from the United Methodist Church and
writing in 1991 that gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy.

Also, Holsinger helped found a Methodist congregation that, according to gay
rights activists, believes homosexuality is a matter of choice and can be
"cured."

"He has a pretty clear bias against gays and lesbians," said Christina
Gilgor, director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, a gay rights group.
"This ideology flies in the face of current scientific medical studies. That
makes me uneasy that he rejects science and promotes ideology."

Holsinger, 68, has declined all interview requests.

 <http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/0607_03.jpg> Blair
Jones, a White House spokesman, said in a telephone interview Wednesday
night that Holsinger had spent his career in public service and taking care
of others.

"On numerous occasions, Dr. Holsinger has taken up the banner for
underrepresented populations, and he will continue to be a strong advocate
for these groups and all Americans," Jones said.

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.

His supporters, including fellow doctors, faculty members and state
officials, said he would never let his theological views affect his medical
ones.

"Jim is able, as most of us are in medicine, to separate feelings that we
have from our responsibility in taking care of patients," said Douglas
Scutchfield, a professor of public health at the University of Kentucky.

In announcing Holsinger as his choice for America's top doctor May 24, Bush
said the physician will focus on educating the public about childhood
obesity.

The previous surgeon general was Dr. Richard Carmona, whose term was allowed
to expire last summer. Carmona issued an unprecedented report condemning
secondhand smoke.

Holsinger received his bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky,
master's degrees from the University of South Carolina and Asbury
Theological Seminary and a doctorate and medical degree from Duke
University.

Scutchfield said Holsinger has advocated expanded stem cell research, in
opposition to many conservatives, and also has shown political courage in
this tobacco-producing state by supporting higher cigarette taxes to curb
teen smoking.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher commended Holsinger for working to fight obesity and
other health problems in this Appalachian state, which ranks near the bottom
in many categories. "He helped get the ball rolling and focusing on healthy
lifestyles," Fletcher said.

As president of the Methodist Church's national Judicial Council, Holsinger
voted last year to support a pastor who blocked a gay man from joining a
congregation. In 2004, he voted to expel a lesbian from the clergy. The
majority of the panel voted to keep the lesbian associate pastor in place,
citing questions about whether she had openly declared her homosexuality,
but Holsinger dissented.

Sixteen years ago, he wrote a paper for the church in which he likened the
reproductive organs to male and female "pipe fittings" and argued that
homosexuality is therefore biologically unnatural.

"When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases
may occur," Holsinger wrote, citing studies showing higher rates of sexually
transmitted diseases among gay men and the risk of injury from anal sex.

Holsinger wrote the paper at a time when the church was one of numerous
denominations considering a more open stance on allowing practicing
homosexuals to join. It took that step in 1992, saying gays are of "sacred
worth" who should be welcomed. "Self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" are
still prohibited from serving in the clergy.

Gilgor, the gay rights activist, called the paper "one twisted piece of
work." Holly Babin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, said Holsinger's writings reflected 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," Babin said in a statement. "Over the
last 20 years, a clearer understanding of these issues has been achieved.
Any new compilation of scientific information on health issues facing
homosexual populations would have a substantially different focus."

As for the congregation Holsinger helped establish, Hope Springs Community
Church, the Rev. David Calhoun told the Lexington Herald-Leader last week
that the Lexington church helps some gay members to "walk out of that
lifestyle."

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is opposing the nomination
along with the Human Rights Campaign and other local and national groups,
calls such a practice "nothing short of torture" for gays.

Phyllis Nash, who worked under Holsinger for nine years as vice chancellor
at the medical center, said the views he took in church appear at odds with
his professional actions.

She recalled a women's health conference that Holsinger helped organize in
2002 that included a session on lesbian health. Despite complaints from some
lawmakers, Holsinger insisted the session go forward, she said.

"His reaction in support could not have been any stronger," Nash said. "He
said, as health care providers, we have to be prepared to meet the health
needs of anyone who walks into the door."

C 2007 The Associated Press.

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org 

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/07/1715/

 

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