Bush Nominee Under Fire Over Anti-Gay Paper

The Bush nominee for surgeon general is under fire over a 1991 academic paper in which he argued that  gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy. In the report, ridiculed by other doctors for imposing politics on science, Dr. James Holsinger compares sexual body parts with pipe fittings and concludes, "when the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur."

Holsinger wrote the paper for a United Methodist Church committee trying to decide whether to relax its ban on homosexuality, ABC reports.The revelation, which has infuriated gay-rights groups, puts his nomination in serious jeopardy. The Senate committee to vote on confirmation is chaired by Ted Kennedy and includes three gay-friendly presidential hopefuls—Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Chris Dodd. (More James Holsinger stories.)