The Associated Press reported yesterday (June 6) that 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."

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Soulforce has issued a statement on the nomination of Dr. Holsinger

Soulforce on June 6^th expressed deep concern over the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger for United States Surgeon General.

"As the leading spokesperson for matters of public health, the Surgeon General should be guided by sound medical science, not anti-gay views rooted in religion-based bigotry," said Soulforce Executive Director Jeff Lutes.

Dr. Holsinger is the current president of the United Methodist Judicial Council. As a member of the council, he opposed the 2004 decision to allow Rev. Karen Dammann, a lesbian, to continue serving as a minister. He also upheld the 2004 defrocking of Rev. Beth Stroud, another lesbian minister, and sided with a Virginia pastor who denied church membership to an openly gay man. Soulforce stood in solidarity at the trials of Rev. Dammann and Rev. Stroud, challenging the unjust policy that bars gay men and lesbians from ordination in the United Methodist Church and the false doctrine that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

Holsinger co-founded Hope Springs Community Church, in Lexington, Kentucky, which operates an "ex-gay" ministry aimed at changing homosexuals to heterosexuals. Recent events have brought national attention to the existence of programs intended to modify same-sex desires, which continue to multiply in spite of the consensus of the major medical and mental health organizations that sexual orientation is not a disorder and is, therefore, not in need of a cure. The American Psychological Association identifies "depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior" among the possible risks associated with ex-gay therapies.

Soulforce Executive Director, Jeff Lutes, is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice and has treated dozens of victims of so-called "ex-gay ministries" and "reparative therapy." In a statement released Wednesday, Lutes said "America doesn't need a Surgeon General who supports 'reparative therapy' and anti-gay dogma masquerading as science. If Holsinger bars gays and lesbians from his own church, how will he treat them as the nation's chief physician? What America needs now is some 'reparative theology' - a force of fair-minded people of faith who will take an unwavering stand against religion gone bad and choose instead to welcome and affirm gay and lesbian people into full citizenship."

The goal of Soulforce is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.