So, in its infinite wisdom, the Administration has managed to locate one of the few remaining medical professionals who would publically characterize homosexuality as a "disease". And not only has it located him, it's nominated him for Surgeon General! Even if Holsinger were to publicly repudiate these views, there is every indication that whoever fills the position of Surgeon General will be heavily influenced in their efforts by the Bush "don't tell anyone about sex and maybe they won't figure it out" Administration.
I'm trying to come up with some theological basis for my comments today, but let's skip the "he doesn't accept the inherent worth and dignity of all persons" argument for now and go right to a discussion of morality (a topic in which Dr. Holsinger seems interested). Sorry, I'm not going to go into the morality of homosexuality; let's talk about the morality of lying to people about their health. It's immoral to nominate a candidate who will not repudiate lurid, outdated and medically innaccurate statements. It's immoral--in the face of an HIV/AIDS crisis affecting people of all sexual orientations--to push innaccurate, fear-based and misleading abstinence-only-until-marriage "sex ed" programs, programs based in an alternate reality where 70% of Americans don't have sex by the time they turn 19. It's immoral for our nation's top health educator not to look out for the health of all our nation's people. In a political climate where everyone talks so much about morality, you'd think we could do better.
