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BALTIMORE — The Rev. Ann Gordon stood in front of her United Methodist congregation last fall and announced that she was now he. Surgery and testosterone had transformed Ann into the Rev. Drew Phoenix -- still as liberal and laid-back as always, but now legally male. Most in the small congregation accepted their pastor's transition; they even threw him a renaming party, complete with birthday cake. But when Phoenix, 48, was reappointed to another year of ministry this spring by his bishop, it sparked a protest in the United Methodist Church. The denomination's highest authority, the Judicial Council, will take...

An official with the Institute on Religion and Democracy says many critics of President Bush's nominee for surgeon general have no problem with his qualifications. Their main concern, says Mark Tooley, appears to be his faith. Recently, the first hearings were held concerning the president's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. James Holsinger, Jr. The Kentucky cardiologist has come under fire by homosexual activist groups who have condemned him because he is president of the Judicial Council in the United Methodist denomination, which is the church's top court. One of those groups, the Human Rights Campaign, has attacked Holsinger for what...

As a member of the United Methodist Judicial Council, physician James Holsinger voted with the majority to affirm Methodist teaching that bans practicing homosexuals from ordination. Holsinger also wrote a white paper for the denomination 16 years ago on the health hazards of gay sex and on the biological complementarity of the human sexes. Should that bar him from serving (as President Bush desires) as U.S. surgeon general? It's not surprising that homosexual-activist groups like Human Rights Campaign think so. But most of the major Democratic presidential candidates agree. [snip] The Bush administration didn't exactly rush to Holsinger's defense. "That...

Media jumps to claim he has retracted his position - others suggest that is exaggeration By Elizabeth O'Brien WASHINGTON, DC, July 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - During the Senate hearing yesterday, Surgeon General nominee Dr. James Holsinger Jr. remained studiously ambiguous on the issue of homosexuality. Meanwhile, the mainstream media has been clamoring that he has positively retracted his former views to now favor homosexuality. Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues of Concerned Women of America (CWA), reported that during the meeting, Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy began by slamming Dr. Holsinger for his Christian faith and the paper he wrote...

Author Bio Letter to the Editor Print This Article Email This Article About RSS Feeds Special Report Can a Methodist Be U.S. Surgeon General? By Mark Tooley Published 7/12/2007 12:08:06 AM Today Senate begins hearings on the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger as U.S. Surgeon General. Unusually, several U.S. senators already oppose him, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd. Another presidential candidate, former Sen. John Edwards, also opposes Holsinger. The New York Times has denounced his views as "abnormal." Their reasons are based exclusively on Holsinger's activities in the United Methodist Church. The 7.9 million member denomination, like...

WASHINGTON, DC, July 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Before a Senate confirmation hearing today, Bush's nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. James Holsinger, responded to criticisms and allegations regarding his views on homosexuality and stated that he is not anti-homosexual, Reuters reports. During the hearing, Holsinger said, "I can only say that I have a deep, deep appreciation for the essential humanity of everyone, regardless of their personal circumstances or their sexual orientation." "Questions have been raised about my faith and about my commitment to the health and well-being of all Americans, including gay and lesbian Americans. He also told Senators that...

On July 12, 2007, the Senate will hold confirmation hearings for Dr. James Holsinger, nominated to be the Surgeon General of the United States. His nomination has sparked opposition from both liberals and conservatives. Liberals detest his position on homosexuality, and conservatives question his ambiguous positions on stem cell research. While he may quell the conservative opposition by giving straightforward answers about his current positions, Dr. Holsinger will likely be unable to change the minds of liberals. While liberals point to many incidents in attempt to paint Dr. Holsinger as "anti-homosexual," much of this rhetoric stems from a paper he...

Homosexual advocacy groups are objecting strongly to President Bush's nominee for surgeon general, but Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr. also faces questions from conservative groups about his views on human cloning and embryonic-stem-cell research. Tom McCluskey, vice president for government affairs at the Family Research Council, said that Dr. Holsinger spoke to a Kentucky state legislature committee in 2002 and "testified in support of loosening regulations around cloning and embryonic-stem-cell research." "We're not supportive of his nomination right now," Mr. McCluskey said, adding that "we've been told he's come around on the issue, but the surgeon general is such a...

In June, as major media were turning surgeon general nominee James Holsinger into a piñata, Rev. Keith Boyette's telephone rang. The caller was a producer from Paula Zahn Now: The CNN news magazine wanted to do a show on Holsinger, the producer said, and had been told that Boyette, pastor of Wilderness Community Church in Spottsylvania, Va., knew Holsinger very well. The Zahn producer's interest in Holsinger, Boyette told WORLD, had little to do with the doctor's distinguished record as a Kentucky cardiologist, cabinet secretary for the state's health services department, and former chief medical director of the Veterans Administration....

LITTLE ROCK - Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders says presidential nominee Dr. James Holsinger's views on homosexuality should not matter but how he squares those views with the job of promoting "a sexually healthy nation" should. "It would be very difficult for me to feel that this is the person that we should be confirming in this day and time with all the problems we have, related to sexual health," Elders told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Holsinger, a Kentucky cardiologist nominated to the surgeon general post by President Bush last month, has come under fire from gay rights groups for...

WASHINGTON — President Bush's nominee for surgeon general ran into intensified opposition Friday, as two leading Democratic presidential candidates joined major gay and lesbian groups in urging his rejection by the Senate. Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., 68, a prominent cardiologist and former state health director in Kentucky, was nominated by Bush last month with a mandate to fight childhood obesity. But controversy has erupted over a paper Holsinger wrote 16 years ago on human anatomy and homosexuality, as well as his role in church battles over policies toward gays. The furor may pose an insurmountable obstacle to his confirmation....

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A doctor tapped by President George Bush for the position of Surgeon General has been attacked by homosexual activist groups for saying homosexual activity is unnatural and unhealthy.Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr. wrote a paper in 1991 entitled “The Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality” for a United Methodist Church committee that was studying homosexuality. The article was an overview of peer-reviewed scientific studies showing the many diseases and physical damage that frequently accompanies homosexual activity. In the paper Holsinger stated that engaging in homosexuality was physically dangerous as well as unnatural behavior.Pointing out...

Bush Surgeon General Pick Manipulated Medical Studies to Advance Anti-Gay Ideology In the latest example of the Bush Administration putting an extreme right wing ideology ahead of sound science and public policy, President Bush nominated Dr. James Holsinger to serve as America’s next Surgeon General. Holsinger’s nomination to serve as the nation’s top doctor for the next four years comes despite his troubling record of manipulating medical studies to make ideologically-motivating, anti-gay arguments. According to reports, Holsinger authored a paper outlining what he viewed as a medical argument for why homosexuality isn’t natural or healthy. Experts said the paper, used...

Lexington (AP) -- President Bush's nominee for surgeon general, Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James Holsinger, has come under fire from gay rights groups for voting to expel a lesbian pastor from the United Methodist Church and writing in 1991 that gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy. Also, Holsinger helped found a Methodist congregation that, according to gay rights activists, believes homosexuality is a matter of choice and can be "cured." "He has a pretty clear bias against gays and lesbians," said Christina Gilgor, director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, a gay rights group. "This ideology flies in the face of current...

The nomination of University of Kentucky professor Dr. James W. Holsinger as U.S. Surgeon General has come under fire from groups that fear his actions as a high-ranking official in the United Methodist Church indicate he is anti-gay. Holsinger, 68, who holds UK’s Charles T. Wethington Jr. Chair in the Health Sciences and is a former chancellor of UK’s Chandler Medical Center and a former state Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, is being challenged for his role in decisions by the United Methodist Judicial Council, the denomination’s highest “court” that rules on disputes involving church doctrine...