There is growing political concern over the nomination of James R. Holsinger to be U.S. Surgeon General, because of his views on gays and lesbians. That, in turn, has generated the first national news media coverage of those issues.
Senators Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., led the way in expressing concern over the nomination in statements released by their offices on June 7.
'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. 'This administration must know that the U.S. Surgeon General's office is no place for bigotry or ideology that would trump science and good judgment.'
Dodd said, 'I fear that Dr. Holsinger's previous comments and actions will prevent him from representing each and every individual.'
Health committee chairman Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., also released a statement saying he was 'disappointed that the administration looked past many talented physicians who have a record of bringing people together and instead chose an individual whose record appears to guarantee a polarizing and divisive nomination process.'
Others who joined on the political bandwagon expressing concern with the nominee included democratic presidential aspirants John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.
But as political scientist Kenneth Sherrill pointed out, 'The real question is not one of concern but whether they are prepared to take the political heat and vote no.'
Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera said, 'By nominating a man who tried to use his medical background to espouse offensive and outdated notions to be America's next Surgeon General, President Bush is continuing his disturbing pattern of promoting an extreme ideological agenda at the expense of the American people.'
The Log Cabin Republicans added, 'The medical community has long rejected the notion that sexual orientation can be changed.' President Patrick Sammon said, 'The fact that Dr. Holsinger advocates this type of junk science is troubling and represents a wholesale rejection of accepted and mainstream scientific opinion.'
Holsinger was appointed to the United Methodist Church's Committee to Study Homosexuality. But he quit in 1991, according to Time magazine, 'because he felt certain its conclusions would follow liberal lines.' He warned that accepting gays would drive millions away from the church.
In 2004, Holsinger was part of the majority that removed the openly lesbian Rev. Irene 'Beth' Stroud from her church in Philadelphia.
