Press Release
Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
June 13, 2007
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
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"Dr. Holsinger will do to medical policy what the White House has done to research
on global warming -- censoring and distorting science that doesn't fit the Bush agenda"WASHINGTON, DC -- Leaders of the Lavender Green Caucus and the Green Party of the United States urged Congress not to confirm Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr. as Surgeon General, calling his views on homosexuality discriminatory, unprofessional, and potentially damaging to the health care needs of millions of Americans.
"Congress must take into account Dr. Holsinger's biased and hostile attitude towards gay people, which will affect his ability to make fair decisions about AIDS, sex education and disease prevention as well as other health concerns of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans," said Alison Duncan, the New York State Green Party's 2006 candidate for Lt. Governor. Ms. Duncan was the first openly gay candidate for a gubernatorial position in the state's history. "Dr. Holsinger has spread gross misinformation about homosexuality, using his status as a doctor to promote a bigoted political ideology. His views are well outside of the mainstream medical community. His nomination is as offensive to the health care community as it is to the LGBT community."
Alison Duncan, the New York State
Green Party's 2006 candidate for
Lt. Governor
Greens cited Dr. Holsinger's article "The Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality," written in January 1991 for a United Methodist Church study on homosexuality, calling the article an expression of profound and willful ignorance, not just on gay men, but on human sexuality in general.
"President Bush's choice of Dr. Holsinger for Surgeon General is consistent with his administration's policy of misrepresenting scientific research and subordinating public health to the demands of ideology," said Lavender Green Caucus member Rev. Dan Rodriguez Schlorff, who serves Broadway United Methodist Church (Chicago, Illinois) as Candidate for Authorized Ministry. "Dr. Holsinger will do to medical policy, especially policies affecting AIDS and sexuality, what the White House has done to federally funded research on global warming -- censoring and distorting science that doesn't fit the Bush agenda."
"Congress members should have learned a lesson from the confirmations of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, which lead to a major ruling restricting the reproductive rights of women that was based on a principle that women have no rights to make decisions about their own lives. Justices Roberts and Alito were confirmed with a significant number of Democratic yeas," Rev. Rodriguez Schlorff added.
The Lavender Green Caucus
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1 comment:
Dear Friends:
I'm absolutely stunned, and furious, over President Bush's nomination of the alleged Doctor, James W. Holsinger, Jr., to serve as Surgeon
General of the United States.
In case you don't already know, Holsinger authored a position in 1991,
to the effect that homosexuality is medically unnatural and unhealthy.
This position was submitted as part of an alleged 'study committee on
behalf of the United Methodist Church, which organization he still
serves as head of its Judicial Council.
I will not waste your time, and mine, citing the numerous examples of
homosexuality in the animal kingdom; nor with the details of current
medical evidence that heterosexuality is more promiscuous and a greater
contributor to the ongoing spread of the AIDS virus.
I will say this: that PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY must be created and enforced
in accordance with medical evidence, not with the dictates of dogma.
Understand clearly: if Holsinger is installed to head the U.S. Public
Health Service, we the public can count on massive cutbacks of funding
for AIDS research, family planning programs and public-health education.
This is entirely unacceptable.
I beg you: do NOT sit idly by while Congress rolls over on yet another
Bush outrage. Do NOT allow this weak Congress a moment's peace from
pressure to do what they surely know is right. Contact your
Representatives, Senators and Party Leaders to bar the alleged Dr. James
W. Holsinger, Jr., from appointment to the office of the Surgeon General.
Gratefully yours,
Alan Augustson
Green Party Candidate for President
alan@augustson2008.us
http://augustson2008.us
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