The Senate Health Committee will have a hearing on Thursday to consider the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be surgeon general. Dr. Holsinger has high-level experience as a health administrator, but there are disturbing indications that he is prejudiced against homosexuals.
What's troubling is the view he once expressed — and may still hold — on homosexuality, through his activities as a lay leader in the United Methodist Church. On the church's judicial council, he supported a minister who refused to allow a gay man to join his congregation and argued that a lesbian minister should be removed because church doctrine deems the practice of homosexuality to be "incompatible with Christian teaching." His supporters say these rulings should not be read as his personal views because the council can't change church doctrine. However, some council members opposed his views, and the bishops later rejected his decision.
His strongest statement on homosexuality can be found in a murky, loosely reasoned paper that he wrote for a church committee in 1991. Titled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," the paper purported to be a scientific and medical review. It argued that gay sex was abnormal on anatomical and physiological grounds and unhealthy, in that anal sex can lead to rectal injuries and sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Holsinger did not brand the large number of heterosexual women who engage in anal sex as abnormal, failed to acknowledge the huge burden of disease spread heterosexually and implied that women are more likely than men to avoid injuries with generous lubrication.
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Thursday July 12th 10:00 am
| Members: | Members: |
|---|---|
| Enzi, Michael B. (WY), Gregg, Judd (NH) Alexander, Lamar (TN) Burr, Richard (NC) Isakson, Johnny (GA) Murkowski, Lisa (AK) Hatch, Orrin G. (UT) Roberts, Pat (KS) Allard, Wayne (CO) Coburn, Tom (OK |
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