Amazing SELFKISS photo-montages by Pupsam aka David Puel and Thomas Libé.

The gay news media have been tracking for several days now the story that Bush’s nominee for Surgeon General is subject to the kind of religious mania faith which convinces him that homosexuality is a curable condition. I thought that the mainstream US press would quickly pick up on it and expose the man’s unsuitability for such a responsible position. Shoulda known better, right? At the time of writing ABC have covered the story in detail, the NYT looked at some of the gay reaction, while the Washington Post and USA Today have failed to pick up on it at all.

Via Raw Story:

On Thursday, ABC News reported that President Bush’s nominee for surgeon-general, Dr. James Holsinger, may be in trouble because of his “homophobic statements.”

In 1991, Holsinger wrote a paper on “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality” for the United Methodist Church, in which he argued that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy. As reported in The Nation, “Holsinger argues that male-female ‘reproductive systems are fully complementary’ because ‘anatomically the vagina is designed to receive the penis.’ The remainder of his paper is a graphic account of the ‘delicate’ rectum which is ‘incapable’ of ‘protection’ if ‘objects that are large, sharp, or pointed are inserted’ into it.”

“Gay rights groups are outraged,” reports ABC, adding that Holsinger also helped found a church that promises to “‘cure’ gays of their sexual orientation,” a claim that major medical organizations dispute.

“A confirmation fight is exactly what the administration does not need,” says commentator David Gergen. “There has been a growing criticism of the administration favoring ideology over competence and this nomination smacks of that.”

Adding to Holsinger’s problems, ABC concludes, the committee which will consider his nomination is chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy, a supporter of gay rights, and includes among its members presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Chris Dodd.

Senator Obama (D-IL) released the following statement Thursday morning, “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.”

“As with other nominees, I will listen to the testimony of Dr. James Holsinger, but this Administration must know that the United States Surgeon General’s office is no place for bigotry or ideology that would trump sound science and good judgment,” Obama’s statement continued.

From the NYT:

As president of the Methodist Church’s national Judicial Council, Holsinger voted last year to support a pastor who blocked a gay man from joining a congregation. In 2004, he voted to expel a lesbian from the clergy. The majority of the panel voted to keep the lesbian associate pastor in place, citing questions about whether she had openly declared her homosexuality, but Holsinger dissented.

Yes, there’s still eighteen months of despicable bullshit like this to get through.

JC