In August of 1942, DC comics introduced fans of Batman and Robin to a new villain, Two-Face. Formerly an ally of the dynamic duo as District Attorney Harvey Dent, he became a crime boss after an accident with acid disfigured one side of his face, splitting his personality and causing him to choose to do good or evil based on the flip of a coin.

This week, Congress will begin public hearings on the nomination of a new surgeon general who could become the next two-faced villain of the LGBT community, Dr. James Holsinger, a cardiologist in Kentucky. As reported in The New York Times and throughout the blogosphere, because of his religious ideology Holsinger has a history of, one could say, being a bit too concerned about what the caped crusaders may be doing when the lights go out in the bat cave.

According to The Times, as a lay leader in the United Methodist Church’s judicial council, Holsinger supported a minister who excluded a gay man from becoming a church member, and he also opposed the appointment of an associate pastor who happened to be a lesbian.

Of utmost concern, however, is a paper Holsinger wrote for a church committee in 1991 titled, “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” in which he argued many of the same worn out and unsupported claims we hear from the most virulent anti-gay organizations. Holsinger and his wife even co-founded Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, Ky., which offers an ex-gay program that claims to help men “find strength to overcome unhealthy sexual behaviors in a safe and confidential environment.”

Clearly there is enough cause for concern in the LGBT community over Holsinger’s nomination. Which face will he show as surgeon general — the medically trained cardiologist sworn to “do no harm” or the religious ideologue who believes that LGBT people are abnormal and can be “cured” in an ex-gay program? Will Holsinger be a puppet of the religious right’s efforts to harm our community through regressive health policies, or will he support health policy rooted in science?

On Tuesday, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, Bush’s first appointee, testified before a House committee about how he and his department were prevented from speaking candidly about any issues that did not fit into the administration’s “ideological, theological or political agenda.”

According to Carmona, “The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party.”

The Task Force has been working with allies on Capitol Hill to ensure that this week’s hearings will include questions from Congress that will expose the two faces of Dr. James Holsinger. Americans, particularly those who are LGBT, can not afford to have a surgeon general who will act as a yes man for the religious right’s ideologically driven agenda.

Want to share your thoughts about Jason Cianciotto’s blog entry?

Send your comments to OutSpoken@theTaskForce.org [0].

Please let us know how your name should appear and, optionally, your city and state. Comments may be posted on our Web site and used in other Task Force materials.