Washington Blade - July 12, 2007
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Responding to questions at his Senate confirmation hearing, Holsinger said he was troubled over claims by critics that the 1991 paper, entitled "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," indicates he would be biased toward public health issues involving gay people.

"I am deeply troubled personally by these claims, which do not reflect who I am, what I believe or how I have practiced medicine for the past 40 years," he told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.

"I think that I can serve all Americans, including gay and lesbian Americans," he said. "I can only say I have a deep, deep appreciation of everybody, regardless of their personal circumstance, including their sexual orientation or any other personal characteristic."

Holsinger's comments about gays came in response to sharp questioning by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who chairs the committee. Kennedy said the 1991 paper and Holsinger's personal religious beliefs as a Methodist Church leader, in which he opposed allowing gays to enter the ministry, raised the issue of whether his "ideological beliefs cloud his scientific judgment."

According to Holsinger, he wrote the paper after a committee of the United Methodist Church asked him to review whether gay male sex practices were more prone to disease and health problems than heterosexual sex. At the time, the committee was preparing recommendations for possible changes in the church's position on homosexuality and gay-related issues.

The paper provides detailed, anatomical descriptions of anal intercourse and concludes that anal sex is contrary to the human body's "natural" biological functions. It cites studies showing gay men were more prone to sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

Holsinger's critics have questioned the credibility of the studies he cites in his paper, saying most experts in public health agree that gays and straights are equally susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. Critics have said the determining factors for transmission of sexually transmitted diseases are unprotected sex and the frequency of unprotected sexual encounters, regardless of whether such encounters are between same-sex or opposite-sex couples.

Kennedy said he received a letter from nine doctors with knowledge in human sexuality who denounced Holsinger's paper as "wholly unscientific, biased and incredibly poor scholarship."

"Dr. Holsinger's paper cherry picks and misuses data to support his thesis that homosexuality is unhealthy and unnatural," Kennedy said at the hearing.

"We've heard reports of Dr. Holsinger's kindness toward people who are gays or lesbians," Kennedy said. "I have no reason to doubt any of these individual accounts of benevolence," he said.

"But as surgeon general, Dr. Holsinger will be responsible for providing the best medical and scientific information to all Americans and we must be assured that he can do so free of interference from his personal views," Kennedy said.

Holsinger said his paper was an unpublished review of the medical literature on health-related issues pertaining to male homosexuality nearly 20 years ago.

"I did not attempt to write a definitive scientific paper," he said.

He said he now believes the paper is outdated.

"First of all, the paper does not represent where I am today," he said. "It does not represent who I am today."

Senator Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), the ranking minority member of the committee, said he was satisfied that Holsinger would place science over ideology. He called on his Senate colleagues to consider Holsinger's long career as a doctor, medical school professor and physician and administrator with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who has been praised by AIDS activists for promoting condom use during the Reagan administration, submitted a letter to the committee in support of Holsinger's nomination.

"His 40 years of public service as a physician and an educator make him an impressive choice," Koop said. "He has a proven record during that time of bringing diverse parties together to address challenging issues," he said, including the growing problem of obesity in adults and children.

Seventy-seven AIDS, gay rights, and health-related advocacy groups from across the country - including D.C.'s Whitman-Walker Clinic - sent the committee a letter this week opposing Holsinger's nomination.

Ronald Johnson, deputy executive director of AIDS Action, a national advocacy group on public policy on AIDS, said he remains skeptical about Holsinger's ability to put science over ideology, especially as an official in the ideologically conservative Bush administration.

"I think he made a nice statement as to his commitment to treating all people," said Johnson, who attended the Holsinger confirmation hearing. "I don't think his compassion is in question. But I don't think he made a clear refutation of the 1991 paper, which very clearly expressed the viewpoint of homosexuality being an abnormality."

Gay and AIDS activist Brent Minor, who served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS under the Clinton and Bush administrations, called on the Senate to reject Holsinger's nomination.

"It's not enough any more to promise not to be anti-gay," Minor said. "We should expect public officials to be pro-gay and pro-lesbian on health care."

Kennedy did not set a date for a committee vote on Holsinger's nomination at the conclusion of the July 12 hearing.
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