WASHINGTON—President Bush’s nominee for surgeon general insisted July 12 that he harbors no bias against gays in spite of his 1991 writings viewed by some as anti-gay.

Dr. James Holsinger, a Kentucky doctor, faced tough questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing over his views on homosexuality and how he would react if he were pressured to put politics ahead of science in his role as the nation’s doctor.

“I would resign,” Holsinger said emphatically.

A vote on Holsinger’s nomination wasn’t expected for several weeks.

At the hearing, he distanced himself from a paper he wrote 16 years ago that has been attacked by gay rights organizations and public health experts as inaccurate and inflammatory.

Holsinger said it was not intended to be a scientific paper and that he relied on the information available to him at the time.

“First of all, the paper does not represent where I am today. It does not represent who I am today,” Holsinger said.

Holsinger told the committee that he fought to ensure that a conference on women’s health included segments on the health needs of lesbians. At the time, he was chancellor of the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

“I fought fiercely for that even though I had a huge political pushback,” Holsinger said.