On May 24, 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Holsinger to become the Surgeon General of the United States. Holsinger's nomination became controversial and was never voted on by the Senate due to, according to his critics, anti-gay bias in his work in the United Methodist Church where he voted to expel a lesbian pastor and for a 1991 report where he characterized gay sex as unnatural and unhealthy. In January 2009, instead, Bush appointed Holsinger to fill a vacant unpaid position on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to expire May 2010.