North Star Writers Group

We live in an off-kilter country indeed. Ours is a country where Isaiah Washington, an actor for the popular TV show “Grey’s Anatomy”, was released from his job presumably for a homophobic slur he made in reference to a co-star. Yet another homophobic man becomes President Bush’s nominee for Surgeon General, arguably one of the most important jobs a man of his training can receive.

Dr. James Holsinger, a devout Methodist, has a worrisome track record when it comes to issues involving the gay community. He voted to oust a lesbian pastor from a United Methodist Church on the basis of her sexuality. He was in the minority and she retained her position. In 1991 he wrote a paper denouncing gay sex as unnatural and unhealthy, and in that same year resigned from a panel within the Methodist Church studying homosexuality because he was “certain its conclusions would follow liberal lines." He also holds the belief that homosexuality is curable, with religious-based therapy. Just last year he voted in support of a pastor who wanted to prohibit a gay man from becoming a part of his congregation.

If the homophobia weren’t enough of a reason to doubt his credibility and capability for being top doctor to a diverse nation, the fact that he holds the opinions he does should call into question his medical knowledge and responsibility. Medical science, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, discounts that homosexuality is a mental disorder that can be “cured” and, in fact, various reports suggest that such “reparative therapy” can lead to problems such as depression and self-hatred.

Because many “success stories” of homosexual conversion have an ideological – rather than medical – base, statistics involving homosexuals-turned-straight are not accepted by the medical community. Yet Holsinger was instrumental in establishing the Hope Springs Community Church in Kentucky, which, according to its leader, Rev. David Calhoun, helps gay members “walk out of that lifestyle.”

Additionally, Holsinger’s paper on the dangers of gay sex outlines the naturalness of “complementary” male/female unions, which he compared to pipe fittings, and warns that going against this “complementary” relationship posed serious health risks which should be taken into consideration before engaging in homosexual sex. While it should be noted that in 1991 there were a lot of unknowns involving AIDS and homosexual activity in general, Holsinger does not in his paper discuss the dangers associated with experimental heterosexual sex. It is not only homosexuals who engage in what Holsinger considers to be unnatural sexual behavior. This clearly shows his theological bias against homosexuals seeping into his medical opinion, especially considering his heavy use of words such as “unnatural” which suggest that homosexuality goes against what God intended.

First, President Bush nominates an open critic of the United Nations, John Bolton, to be America’s UN Ambassador in 2005. Then, in 2007, he nominates a man who holds a problematic stance on homosexuality that doesn’t hold up medically to be our Surgeon General. Worse yet, these are only bookends to a slew of baffling decisions made by the president and his administration. I don’t think we can hold out any hope of Bush realizing that we are not all conservative Christians any time in the next year-and-a-half. Meanwhile, conservative Christian groups are fervently backing Holsinger because he has an anti-gay bias that reflects the opinion of God.

Don’t get me wrong, Isaiah Washington deserved to be released from the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” for his transgressions. But Dr. Holsinger should be held to similar – if not tougher – scrutiny by the American public and the news media. He hasn’t been so far. Instead, his story has been back page news. Holsinger has spent the last decade unapologetically denouncing homosexuality. If the Senate approves the nomination, will be in the position to make decisions regarding the health of all American people. Just because Holsinger is a different type of public figure does not mean his homophobia should be complacently dismissed.

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