Surgeon general nominee on hold

"Dead in the water"

By Justin Thompson

Scripps Howard News Service

October 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - Three months after Dr. James Holsinger answered some sharp questions from senators, his nomination to be the next surgeon general appears to be on life support.

The 68-year-old Kentuckian, whose critics cried foul about a paper he wrote years ago condemning homosexual sex, needs Senate confirmation to become the nation's 18th surgeon general.

Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said members are waiting for the nominee to answer follow-up questions. Wagoner said she could not release the questions while Holsinger continues to work on them.

Craig Orfield, the committee's communications director, said he knows of no date for a vote.

A spokeswoman for the White House said Holsinger is working on the questions but could not say when he would respond.

The questions are related to his views on homosexuality, his record at the Department of Veterans Affairs and his plans to deal with childhood obesity, which he said would be his highest priority as surgeon general, speculated Rebecca Fox, director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health, which works on lesbian, gay and bisexual health issues.

Jerry Farrell, executive director of the Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Services, said that Holsinger's prospects for confirmation appear dim, despite the nominee's "tremendous service" to public health.

"From the tea leaves that I am reading, there is not a lot of interest in getting a vote," he said.

His organization has neither opposed nor endorsed Holsinger's nomination, Farrell said.

He would not speculate on whether Holsinger might remove his name from consideration or if the administration might ask him to do so.

He said he expected that Dr. Steven Galson, who has served as acting surgeon general for the last three months, would continue in that role through the end of the year.

The president has the option of appointing Holsinger after Congress adjourns later in the fall; the White House would not comment on that possibility.

Fox, an outspoken critic of Holsinger's nomination, said she hopes the president will refrain from using that power, as he did in August, and wait for Holsinger to respond to the committee's questions.

Some of Holsinger's opponents said the White House might support him in theory, but in practice, has done little to move him closer to becoming surgeon general.

"They're not pushing to get this through," said Becky Dansky, federal legislative director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"It's kind of dead in the water at this point."

But the Bush administration said it has not reconsidered its endorsement of Holsinger.

"The White House certainly still supports him," said Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of Louisville, who introduced Holsinger to the committee in July, said then that the nomination is "the right prescription to help America confront today's health challenge." This week, a McConnell spokesman said that the Louisville Republican continues to support Holsinger.

McConnell's fellow Kentucky Republican, Sen. Jim Bunning of Southgate, also championed Holsinger at the hearing, but has since remained silent. A spokesman for Bunning said the senator remains steadfast in his support.

Unfortunately for Holsinger, neither McConnell nor Bunning is a member of Kennedy's committee, and Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., the committee's ranking Republican, has not said how he would vote.

Holsinger has served in government medical positions before, as Kentucky health secretary and as chief medical director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The president tapped Holsinger in May to replace former surgeon general Dr. Richard Carmona, who resigned in August 2006 after complaining that the White House stymied his attempts to speak about stem-cell research and the psychological trauma faced by 9-11 responders.

When Holsinger appeared before the Senate committee, he tried to allay concerns about the controversial paper he wrote in 1991 for the United Methodist Church's committee to study homosexuality.

In "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," Holsinger contended that homosexual sex was neither natural nor healthy.

At the hearing, Holsinger portrayed the report as a literature review of previous reports. Some of the authors of those reports accused Holsinger of misconstruing facts.

The Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights advocacy group, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, People for the American Way, the National Coalition for LGBT Health and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force denounced his nomination because of the paper.

Holsinger, who declined to comment outside of the hearings, has spent the time since his nomination 500 miles from the political battle, at the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health in Lexington. There, he teaches classes on health care ethics, health services leadership and health care management.

Stephen Wyatt, the College of Public Health dean, described the surgeon general nominee as "very active" outside the classroom, mentoring junior faculty, consulting and chairing committees.

Wyatt has worked with surgeons general before. From 1980 to 2000, he held several positions in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including deputy center director.

"None of the folks I worked with would be stronger than Dr. Holsinger," he said.

Wyatt has prepared for a replacement professor in case the Senate confirms Holsinger, but he said he has no idea if or when that might happen.

Dansky puts those chances at "slim to none." Three of the Democrats on the committee - Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois, Hillary Clinton of New York and Chris Dodd of Connecticut - seem unlikely to vote to confirm Holsinger and risk a backlash from gay and lesbian voters against their presidential campaigns, she said. And Kennedy has a record of voting for gay and lesbian rights.

Other committee members, including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., have not publicly announced how they would vote, though Brown and Mikulski questioned Holsinger aggressively during the hearing.

Mikulski clashed with him when he was the VA's chief medical director, accusing him of being apathetic toward what she called the system's mistreatment of women.

"There is no reason to think he is going to make it out of committee," Dansky said.

"The votes just aren't there."

See other LifeLube posts on this topic.

Clinton, Obama to vote against Holsinger for post

Read the whole Washington Blade story here.

“Because of the questions that have been raised about Dr. Holsinger’s qualifications and ability to fulfill the duties of the job, I do not believe that he will be able to provide adequate leadership in the public health field as Surgeon General, and I must go on record as opposing his nomination,” Clinton said in a statement.

In a statement released on June 7, Obama said, “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.”

Dr. Dodgy

Editorial via the Washington Post

A surgeon general nominee does little to quell concern about a paper on gay men.

DR. JAMES W. Holsinger Jr. wants to be the next surgeon general of the United States. On paper, he's nearly perfect. His distinguished career spans nearly 40 years in Kentucky and Washington, D.C. If confirmed, Dr. Holsinger said, his three priorities would be combating smoking and childhood obesity and improving how the public health system responds to emergencies -- excellent goals. But his prurient 1991 paper for the Methodist Church on what he imagined to be the sex lives of gay men has gummed up his effort to become the nation's top doc.



The hope was that his confirmation hearing last week would bring some clarity to Dr. Holsinger's views on homosexuality. No such luck. Instead, he expressed his "deep appreciation for the humanity of everyone, regardless of their personal circumstances or their sexual orientation." That's excellent, but it doesn't answer the question.



"Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality" is a six-page romp through sexual practices that would be extreme for anyone regardless of sexual orientation. Yet Dr. Holsinger ascribed these practices to all gay men and decreed that the practices marked all homosexuals as promiscuous and diseased. The idea that two people of the same sex could establish a relationship based on love was never broached. Instead, he concluded his NC-17 report by saying the hardware store popularity of male and female pipe fittings proves the primacy of heterosexuality.



Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) did his best to show that the scientific underpinnings of Dr. Holsinger's report were beyond weak. He pointed out that one physician whose work was featured wrote him to complain of the paper's "unscientific, biased, and incredibly poor scholarship." Mr. Kennedy said it "cherry-picks and misuses data"; for instance, much of the information was culled from "emergency room and trauma studies" -- hardly a representative sample of gay men.



Dr. Holsinger struck a that-was-then-this-is-now pose. "The paper does not represent where I am today," he said. Fine. But the question remains: Does Dr. Holsinger still believe that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy? If the answer is yes, he should not be confirmed.


Read the infamous 1991 paper here.


Link to other LifeLube posts on this topic here.

Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality, i.e. Gay Sex is EWWWWWWW

by Curt Hicks (thanks for this Curt!!)

Here is Holsinger's infamous paper. In it, he displays a rather obsessive focus on gay men who engage in anal sex. Despite the theological concern he is addressing for a United Methodist Church committee being equally applicable to lesbian women, he oddly limits his paper solely to male homosexuality.

Holsinger's pathologizing of homosexuality relies heavily on the distinctness of the human alimentary and reproductive systems. "There is absolute consensus in the scientific community concerning the structure and function of the human alimentary and reproductive systems. These two systems are absolutely separate since the human does not possess a cloaca." And yet, oral sex--which also connects those two systems for sexual pleasure--somehow fails to rate even a mention.

Holsinger demonstrates remarkably selective attention in detailing maladies that can befall MSM, citing research conducted in the early and mid-eighties when MSM condom use and access to gay-friendly STD treatment were both rare. Though not one of the conditions he mentions are unique to homosexuals, he cites each as evidence of homosexuality's pathogenicity, failing to consider that his own arguments condemn heterosexuality too. "From the perspective of pathology and pathophysiology, the varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma. Four general groups of conditions may be encountered in homosexually active men: classical sexually transmitted diseases (gonorrhea, infections with chlamydia trachomatis, syphilis, herpes simplex infections, genital warts, pubic lice, scabies); enteric diseases (infections with shiggella species, Campylobacter jejuni, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis non-A, non-B, and cytomegalovirus); trauma (fecal incontinence, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, foreign bodies, rectosigmoid tears, allergic proctitis, penile edema, chemical sinusitis, inhaled nitrite burns, and sexual assault of the male patient); and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, Owen, 1985) ."

Holsinger closes by citing plumber slang as evidence of the clear and distinct superiority of heterosexuality. "In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above."

Our myopic nominee seems to be assuring those who strictly observe the complementarity of the sexes that they can count themselves safe from STD's, enteric infections, sexual or drug-related trauma, rape, and AIDS.

What a relief!

Surgeon General Nominee Holsinger Dismisses Paper on Homosexuality During Senate Testimony

Courtesy of Kaiser Family Foundation

President Bush's nominee for surgeon general, James Holsinger, on Thursday during his testimony to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee "sought to distance himself" from a "controversial" paper he wrote on the health of men who have sex with men, saying that the paper is not a scientific document and that many of the issues raised in it are out of date, the Washington Post reports (Lee, Washington Post, 7/13). Bush nominated Holsinger on May 24 to succeed former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who ended his term last year with no replacement.

The HIV Medicine Association and other groups -- including the American Public Health Association and some gay and lesbian organizations -- announced their opposition to Holsinger ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing. HIVMA, APHA, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and other groups in their opposition to Holsinger cite in part a document he wrote in 1991 called the "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality." The document was written to a United Methodist Church panel studying homosexuality. In the document, which focuses on anatomy and the reproductive system, Holsinger wrote that the "varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma." Holsinger also called anal sex unnatural and gave an anatomical explanation (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/12).

Holsinger, Kennedy Comments

Holsinger during the HELP Committee hearing said that his views have changed and that the issues he raised in the paper are not relevant to current public health discussions (Washington Post, 7/13). "I can only say that I have a deep appreciation for the essential human dignity of all people, regardless of background or sexual orientation," Holsinger said, adding, "Should I be confirmed as surgeon general, I pledge to you to continue that commitment" (Harris, New York Times, 7/13). He also said that condom use is important for preventing pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections and suggested that condoms are appropriate for teenagers, the Los Angeles Times reports.

HELP Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) during the hearing said he recently received a letter from a group of leading HIV/AIDS physicians that concluded Holsinger's paper was "not based on science but rather is ideology with a veneer of science." William Owen -- one of the letter's authors and a physician in San Francisco -- was cited as a source by Holsinger in his paper. "The paper implicitly attempts to show that there is a scientific consensus for the proposition that homosexuality is abnormal, when in fact the scientific consensus in 1991 was much more strongly in favor of the concept that homosexuality is not abnormal and is not a disorder," the letter said, adding, "That consensus has only strengthened over time."

Kennedy said many committee members are "concerned about aspects of Dr. Holsinger's record that indicate that Dr. Holsinger has let his ideological beliefs cloud his scientific judgment." He added, "These concerns are serious at any time but all the more so in light of Dr. Carmona's alarming testimony" (Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 7/13). Kennedy at the start of the hearing said he plans to introduce legislation that would give the surgeon general's office more political independence (New York Times, 7/13). Holsinger during the hearing said that he would resign if pressured to put politics above science but only after trying to inform policymakers on the science and come to a consensus. "Candidly, if I were unable to do that and I was being overridden, if necessary, I would resign," he said (Washington Post, 7/13).

No Democrats during the hearing indicated that they would support Holsinger's nomination, and fewer than half of the HELP committee members attended the hearing (Los Angeles Times, 7/13). Republicans on the panel expressed their support for the nomination, according to the New York Times. The HELP Committee likely will vote on Holsinger's nomination in September (New York Times, 7/13).

C-SPAN video of the complete hearing is available online.

NPR's "All Things Considered" on Thursday reported on the hearing. The segment includes comments from Holsinger; Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.); and Ruth Holsinger, mother of James Holsinger (Silberner, "All Things Considered," NPR, 7/12). Audio and a partial transcript of the segment are available online.

In addition, WBUR's "Here & Now" on Thursday included a discussion with Drew Armstrong, a reporter covering the nomination for Congressional Quarterly. Audio of the segment is available online. Thursday's program also included a discussion with Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, about politics and the position of surgeon general ("Here & Now," WBUR, 7/12). Audio of the segment is available online.

"practicing homosexuals"

Check out this post from July 10 in The Gist, Michelangelo Signorile's blog.

Especially interesting are the comments...




In an editorial today regarding the crackpot antigay theories of George W. Bush's surgeon general nominnee, James Holsinger, the New York Times several times uses the term "homosexuals." Last week my friend John Aravosis of Americablog wrote an open letter to the Washington Post regarding the use of that word.


While the usage of the term, in a limited (often clinical or scientific) manner could be argued, there is ABSOLUTELY NO justification for the Times using the term "practicing homosexuals" in today's editorial, as the final, emphatic note of the piece, no less.


Read the rest here.

A Nominee’s Abnormal Views

A Nominee’s Abnormal Views

Editorial in the The New York Times
Published: July 10, 2007

The Senate Health Committee will have to dig beneath the surface 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.

Though routinely called “the nation’s top doctor,” the surgeon general is a midlevel official who oversees the 6,000 uniformed professionals in the Public Health Service. His main mission is to serve as “America’s chief health educator,” with potentially enormous capacity to shape public opinion.

Dr. Holsinger served for 26 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he rose to be chief medical director and under secretary for health. After retiring, he became chancellor of the University of Kentucky Medical Center and, briefly, secretary for health and family services in Kentucky.

Although he is a Christian conservative, he is difficult to pigeonhole ideologically. He testified against an anti-cloning bill in Kentucky that he felt would impede research, a position at odds with that of the president. He backed a session on lesbian health issues at a state health conference despite protests from angry legislators, favored raising cigarette taxes in a tobacco-growing state and worked to limit junk food in schools.

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 one 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.

The Bush administration says the white paper reflected the scientific understanding of the time, but it reads like a veneer of science cloaking an aversion to homosexuality. The committee should examine whether Dr. Holsinger cherry-picked the literature or represented it objectively. Most important, it must determine whether Dr. Holsinger holds these benighted views today. The Senate should not confirm a surgeon general who considers practicing homosexuals abnormal and diseased.

Other posts on this topic are here.

Letter sent by the HIV Medicine Association to all members of the HELP committee regarding nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be Surgeon General

July 2, 2007

Senator Edward Kennedy

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Senate Russell Office Building 317

Washington, DC 20510-2101

Sent via fax: 202-224-2417

Dear Senator Kennedy:

I am writing on behalf of the board of directors of the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) to express strong reservations regarding President Bush’s nomination of James Holsinger, MD to be the Surgeon General of the United States. HIVMA represents more than 3,600 clinicians and researchers from across the U.S. devoted to HIV medicine. Dr. Holsinger’s perspective on homosexuality as a lifestyle choice places him well outside the medical mainstream, and raises questions about his ability to provide national leadership on behalf of all of our nation’s people and to address one of our country’s most critical public health problems—the AIDS epidemic.

As physicians and scientists who have devoted our professional careers to prevention, research and clinical care aimed at relieving the human suffering caused by HIV/AIDS, we are dismayed that the nominee to serve as the nation’s First Physician would be an individual noted for his intolerant and misguided views on homosexuality. These views are of particular concern because of the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on men who have sex with men, especially gay men of color, as we try to reduce the 40,000 new HIV infections in the nation each year. There is little doubt that stigma and discrimination, including homophobia, fuel the AIDS epidemic both in the U.S. and abroad. Effective public health leadership to address the AIDS epidemic requires an ability to provide candid, nonjudgmental and evidence-based information on sexuality as well as sexual activity that might facilitate HIV transmission, while also ensuring that persons living with HIV infection receive compassionate, state-of-the-art medical treatment.

We have no doubt that Dr. Holsinger is a fine physician and has performed ably as a public servant. His campaign to address childhood obesity in Kentucky is a laudable one. Nevertheless, we have a duty to our patients and to all of those Americans who may be at risk of contracting HIV and becoming our patients, to respectfully challenge the suitability of Dr. Holsinger for this highly visible leadership position. Dr. C. Everett Koop, MD, the Surgeon General of the United States during the early years of the epidemic demonstrated extraordinary leadership by talking candidly with Americans about HIV/AIDS, by addressing fears and debunking myths, and by encouraging support and compassion toward those living with HIV/AIDS. The next Surgeon General should have the will and the wisdom to do no less.

Please contact the HIVMA executive director Christine Lubinski to discuss this important issue further.

Sincerely,

Daniel R. Kuritzkes, MD

Chair, HIV Medicine Association

Tell Your Senators To Reject Holsinger's Nomination as Surgeon General!

Action Alert via AIDS Project Los Angeles

Tell Your Senators to Oppose Holsinger for Surgeon General!

Greetings,

On May 24, President Bush nominated Dr. James Holsinger to serve as 18th Surgeon General of the United States. As America's chief health educator, the Surgeon General must be devoted to helping all Americans lead healthy lives and must be committed to science. Among the stated duties of the post is to provide leadership in promoting health initiatives such as HIV prevention efforts.

In the past, Dr. Holsinger has exhibited a prejudice against homosexual men. His efforts to put a scientific veneer on his prejudices (as evidenced in a 1991 paper http://ga0.org/ct/p7aXO9p1k4hG/ for the United Methodist Church) call into serious question his ability to advocate for sensible HIV care and prevention education.

His nomination must be approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) before the nomination is sent to the entire Senate for confirmation. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) serves as the Chair and Senator Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) is the Ranking Member of the Committee. Although no hearing date has been set yet, it's vital that we educate our senators as soon as possible.

Please tell your senator to voice opposition to Holsinger's nomination. It's quick and easy using APLA's In The Loop!

http://ga0.org/campaign/holsinger/geb8kk4136ntnm?

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your Senators

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Please Oppose Dr. Holsinger's Nomination As Surgeon General!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to the post of Surgeon General.

As the nation's chief health educator, charged with improving the health of all Americans, the U.S. Surgeon General must be committed to science and willing to set aside his political or religious views.

While Dr. Holsinger has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public health, he has a record of demonstrating extreme prejudice toward homosexuals. Perhaps most disturbing is a 1991 paper he prepared for the United Methodist Church entitled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality." In it, Dr. Holsinger expressed medical opinions about the abnormality and health dangers of gay sexual practices.

Dr. Holsinger's biography also includes involvement with the Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, Kentucky, which has advanced a ministry to "cure" homosexuals, an approach widely discredited by mainstream medical and scientific organiz ations.

Dr. Holsinger's efforts to put a scientific veneer on his prejudices demonstrably compromises his ability to advocate for the better health of all those living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS.If confirmed, he will alienate the AIDS community and further marginalize and stigmatize gay people.

HIV/AIDS is a devastating public health epidemic, heavily impacting both the gay and heterosexual community in this country and worldwide. Evidence-based efforts to stop the HIV epidemic require an unbiased public health agenda.

Now, more than ever, the nation needs a Surgeon General who is able to recommend sound health policy to all Americans, who unites and supports the health and well-being of all Americans.

For these reasons, I urge you to voice your opposition to Dr. Holsinger's nomination.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

http://ga0.org/campaign/holsinger/geb8kk4136ntnm?

Take Action!
Instructions:
Click here to take action <http://ga0.org/campaign/holsinger/geb8kk4136ntnm?> on this issue

What's At Stake:

In a document titled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexualityhttp://ga0.org/ct/p7aXO9p1k4hG/," Dr. Holsinger wrote the following statements about the abnormality and health dangers of homosexual sexual practices:

In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above.

Additionally, Holsinger and his wife were founders of Hope Springs Community Church, which operates a "Men's Sexual Integrityhttp://www.hopespringschurch.com/content.cfm?id=201 " recovery program. The church's website describes the program as "an opportunity for men to heal from sexual brokenness and find strength to overcome unhealthy sexual behaviors." This type of "ex-gay" conversion therapy has been condemned by almost every major, reputable medical organization — including the American Psychological Association, which issue d a condemnation http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/justthefacts.html#2 more than 10 years ago.

A number of advocacy organizations, including AIDS Action http://www.aidsaction.org/ , the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force http://www.thetaskforce.org/ and the Human Rights Campaign http://www.hrc.org/, have voiced opposition to the nomination. Supporting Holsinger are organizations such as Exodus International http://www.exodus.to/ and Americans For The Truth About Homosexuality http://americansfortruth.com/ .

Campaign Expiration Date:
July 15, 2007

Joycelyn Elders on Black Gay Men and the Surgeon General Nominee

Read the post in Rod 2.0

Call Your Senators to Oppose Dr. Holsinger for Surgeon General

AIDS Action's alert on the nomination of Dr. Holsinger for Surgeon General:

Contact: Anna Ford 202-530-8030 ext. 3074 aford@aidsaction.org

CALL YOUR SENATORS AND URGE THEM TO OPPOSE THE NOMINATION OF DR. JAMES HOLSINGER FOR SURGEON GENERAL!

On May 24, 2007 President George Bush nominated Dr. James Holsinger for Surgeon General of the United States. As America's chief health educator, the Surgeon General must be devoted to helping ALL Americans lead healthy lives and be committed to science. Among the stated duties of the Surgeon General is to provide leadership in promoting health initiatives such as HIV prevention efforts.

Dr. Holsinger has had an extensive medical career; however, he also has a record showing prejudice towards and bias against homosexuals. HIV/AIDS continues to be a devastating public health epidemic, heavily impacting the gay community. Dr. Holsinger's efforts to put a scientific veneer on his prejudices puts his ability to advocate for the better health of all those living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS into serious question. Most disturbing was a 1991 paper prepared for the United Methodist Church by Dr. Holsinger entitled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," in which Holsinger expressed his medical opinions about the abnormality and health dangers of gay and lesbian sexual practices. His record also shows his support for reparative therapy to "cure" homosexuals, an approach widely discredited by mainstream medical and scientific organizations. AIDS Action strongly opposes his nomination and believes that if confirmed, he will not gain the confidence of people living with HIV/AIDS and will further marginalize and stigmatize gay people.

His nomination must be approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) before the nomination is sent to the entire Senate for confirmation. (No hearing date has been set). Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) serves as the Chair and Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY) is the Ranking Member.

THE SENATE NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU! TELL THEM THE FOLLOWING:

* YOU OPPOSE THE CONFIRMATION OF DR. JAMES HOLSINGER FOR SURGEON GENERAL

* A SURGEON GENERAL WITH A RECORD OF PREJUDICE TOWARDS AND BIAS AGAINST THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY WOULD LIKELY BE A DIVISIVE, POLARIZING FIGURE AND DETRIMENTAL TO THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF ALL AMERICANS

* A SURGEON GENERAL THAT IS NOT COMMITTED TO SCIENCE WOULD JEOPARDIZE EVIDENCED BASED PUBLIC HEALTH EFFORTS

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS AND SENATORS SERVING ON THE HEALTH EDUCATION LABOR AND PENSIONS (HELP) COMMITTEE. IF YOUR SENATORS SERVE ON THE HELP COMMITTEE IT IS ESPECIALLY IMPORATANT THAT YOU CALL!

HELP Committee Members include: Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Christopher Dodd, (D-CT), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barack Obama (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Richard Burr (R-NC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Wayne Allard (R-CO), and Tom Coburn (R-OK).

You can reach your Senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking for them by name. To find out who your Senators are, go here and type in your zip code in the space provided. You can also email your Senators directly by clicking here and typing in your zip code in the space provided.

TAKE AIDS ACTION!

Urge your Senators and the Senate HELP Committee to Reject Bush's Nomination for Surgeon General!

FIRST DO NO HARM - Surgeon General nominee a danger says GMHC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18, 2007

Press contact: Noel Alicea, 212 367 1216

Gay Men’s Health Crisis calls

Surgeon General nominee a danger

President Bush announced Dr. James Holsinger as his nominee for United States Surgeon General on the Thursday afternoon before the long Memorial Day weekend. Given Dr. Holsinger’s history, it is no wonder the President timed the announcement to attract as little media attention as possible.



Dr. Holsinger’s record reveals a physician who is committed not to science, but to ideology. His well-documented enmity toward lesbians and gays (except those struggling to ‘overcome’ their homosexuality) makes him unfit to carry out the mission of the Surgeon General’s office: to protect and advance the health of the nation. His nomination poses a grave danger to our communities.


“We need a Surgeon General who will tear down the stigma that fuels the AIDS epidemic, not one who has made a career of bolstering it,” says Dr., Marjorie J. Hill, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). “Homophobia has no place in public health. We need leaders who understand that so-called privately held prejudices, such as the virulent homophobia that Dr. Holsinger has repeatedly displayed, have dire consequences for our community and our country.”



Dr. Holsinger helped established the Hope Springs Community Church which operates a program for gays and lesbians who “seek to walk out of that lifestyle.” The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association have rejected so-called reparative therapy (also known as conversion or reorientation therapy). Countless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have been subjected to such measures can testify to the damage it has done.



In 1991, Holsinger authored Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality, a paper prepared for the Committee to Study Homosexuality of the United Methodist Church. In it, he compared the “human sexes” to male and female “pipe fittings” and argued that homosexuality ran counter to anatomical and physiological truths. “When the complementarity of the sexes is breached,” Holsinger stated, “injuries and diseases may occur.”



Supporters say that Dr. Holsinger’s perspective has evolved in the sixteen years that have passed since penning this work, but he has yet to disavow his thesis. Furthermore, just three years ago, as one of nine members of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church, he voted to expel a lesbian associate pastor from the clergy. In 2006, as president of the council, he voted to support a pastor who blocked a gay man from joining his congregation.


The Surgeon General serves a four year term. The health of people living with HIV and AIDS could rest in Dr. Holsinger’s hands for three years after President Bush leaves office. His confirmation, particularly at this moment in the epidemic, will turn back the clock on HIV treatment and prevention efforts.



“The Holsinger nomination signals the White House’s ongoing contempt for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as well as people living with HIV/AIDS,” Dr. Hill stated. “We urge our Senators to send a different message and reject this nominee.”

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Gay Groups Decry Surgeon General Nominee

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - 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."

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