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The surgeon general should be the nation's leading voice on the health for all Americans—right?

Gay-rights activists and even the former surgeon general are accusing the Bush administration of politicizing the position by controlling the information coming out of the office and nominating a doctor to fill the position who argued that homosexuality is "unhealthy and unnatural." His confirmation hearing is set for tomorrow.

Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that the Bush administration would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem-cell research, emergency contraception, sex education or mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to "water down" a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. The report, which was released last year, concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.

Carmona also said top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public-health reports and prevented him from attending the Special Olympics because of political considerations, reports The New York Times.

Carmona, who testified under oath before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wasn't the only former surgeon general to testify against the administration. Former Surgeon Generals C. Everett Koop, who served during the Reagan administration, and David Satcher, who served during the Clinton administration and the first year of the George W. Bush administration, also testified. The topic was how to strengthen the office of the surgeon general. All three men urged major changes in the way the surgeon general is chosen and the way the office is financed. But it doesn't look as though those changes will take effect any time soon.

The Holsinger Controversy

The Senate confirmation hearing of Bush's nominee, Dr. James W. Holsinger, is scheduled for Thursday morning. Gay-rights activists and two members of the Senate health committee oppose Holsinger's nomination because of a 1991 report in which he concluded that gay sex was unnatural and unhealthy.

(See also: Is Bush Surgeon-General Nominee a Homophobe?)

Holsinger presented the controversial "The Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality" in January 1991 to a United Methodist Church's Committee to Study Homosexuality. (The church was then considering changing its view that homosexuality violates Christian teaching, though it ultimately did not make the change.) In the study, Holsinger wrote that gay sex goes against the human male's anatomical and physiological "structure and function." By contrast, straight intercourse provides a "complementarity of the human sexes" that is less prone to sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. To read the study, click here.

Holsinger, who has held posts related to public health in the federal government and for the state of Kentucky and was chancellor of the University of Kentucky Medical Center, also is president of the Methodist Church's National Judicial Council. Last year, he voted in support of a pastor who blocked a gay man from joining a congregation, and in 2004, he voted to expel a lesbian from the clergy. According to gay-rights activists, his church tries to "cure" gays and lesbians.

"His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans," said the Human Rights Campaign in a statement. "It is essential that America's top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology."

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Congressman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., both of whom sit on the Senate Health Committee that will review Holsinger's nomination on Thursday, say they have reservations given his reported views. 

"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," said Obama.

"I fear that Dr. Holsinger's previous comments and actions will prevent him from representing each and every individual," Dodd said in a statement.

Holsinger appears to hold some "liberal" views: He testified against an anti-cloning bill in Kentucky, which of course put him at odds with the president. At a state health conference he supported a session on lesbian health issues despite anti-gay protests. He also favored raising cigarette taxes in a tobacco-growing state and also worked to limit junk food in schools.

Holisnger's supporters include the White House, which released a statement supporting his nomination without mentioning the 1991 paper, and the Department of Health and Human Services, which will take the lead on trying to achieve Holsinger's confirmation.

Department of Heath and Human Services spokesperson Holly Babin insists that the paper was by no means reflective of Holsinger's views but was the scientific views of the time.

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