US Refuses to Sign United Nations Gay Rights Resolution

Liberty and freedom for all—just not the gays. The United States becomes the lone major western nation to refuse to sign an historic United Nations declaration that affirms gay rights and seeks to decriminalize homosexuality.

The unprecedented declaration won the support of 66 countries in the United Nations General Assembly. The United States—represented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, seen above—"refused to support the non-binding measure, as did Russia, China, the Roman Catholic Church and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Holy See’s observer mission issued a statement saying that the declaration “challenges existing human rights norms."

The declaration, sponsored by France with broad support in Europe and Latin America, condemned human rights violations based on homophobia, saying such measures run counter to the universal declaration of human rights.

“How can we tolerate the fact that people are stoned, hanged, decapitated and tortured only because of their sexual orientation?” said Rama Yade, the French state secretary for human rights, noting that homosexuality is banned in nearly 80 countries and subject to the death penalty in at least six.

The United States delegation could not sign the declaration for a very simple reason: There are currently no federal protections for gays, lesbians and transgenders. Same sex marriage is legal only in two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In more than half of the states, employers and landlords are free to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Add this to the growing list of reasons why we need to pass ENDA and federal hate crime protections.

Our neighbors to the north and south—Canada and Mexico—signed this declaration. It's a sad day when the world's largest democracy chooses sides with rabidly, anti-gay human rights violators—such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia—who claimed the resolution threatened to "normalize" pedophilia and other "deplorable acts. Shameful

In a First, Gay Rights are Pressed at UN [NYT]
US Faces Criticism Over Refusal to Sign [P1Q]

Comments

[Rowan]

This is sick.

[Derrick from Philly]

Thanks for reporting this, Rod. After two days of gay folks going into a frenzy over Rick Warren, I needed something to remind me of what's really important in this country: a federal law banning discrimination against gays in the work place--then setting an example to the rest of the world.

[Taylor Siluwé]

Speechless. *sigh*

[Rowan]

@ Derrick from Philly

Yeah this is a bigger story for sure and more relevant.

[Nathan James]

Yet, even in the face of this, there are still too many politicians, clergy, and educators who insist homosexuality is a "choice". Yeah, right, I choose to be part of a human population which, as Rod notes, can still be EXECUTED in six countries.

It's appalling that the United States, a country which frequently calls other nations to task on human-rights issues, still doesn't practice respect for those values here at home.

[Travis D]

okay rowan and derrick...i agree this story is more relevant but all these stories are more important. and truth be told, it's very obvious the black gay community is exteremeley reluctant to criticize barack obama.

i only saw two stories this week on rick warren on this blog and many folk were letting rod have it. i have seen other blogs that are nonstop obama and warren. i dont think rod has been ignoring the issues and concentrating on warren. i just many folk in our community are too sensitive to criticism of barack.

he's human, he's a politician, he's going to mess up. but hopefully not often! i will wholehearted support barack but that does not mean i will not express displeasure and disappointment.

[Duwayne]

Travis: Just because we now have a democrat in office doesn't mean we cannot express our displeasure with what the president (elect) does. I agree with you, we have to still fight for our rights. I am going to stop just because Obama is in the white house.

[Duwayne]

Also, we have to remember that Obama is not going to pay our mortgages, pay our student loans off, or put food on our table. In other words, he is not GOD and we cannot treat him as such. He is going to make mistakes and he WILL do things we don't agree with. That being said, I do support him and am hoping for some real "change" sometime soon that includes gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and the larger progressive community.

[Rod]

I agree with Rowan, Derrick and Travis that this is a much more important story. But the news cycles are not dominated only by important stories, but what people are talking about too, and anything Obama related is news.

That being said, I'll also piggyback on Duwayne and add that many of us do tend to deify Obama and attack any criticism. Rick Warren is a legitimate issue and has been discussed many times on this blog, along with many anti-gay pastors, black and white.

I've only posted two or three items on the recent controversy, and, as an fyi, routinely talk about things like ENDA, hate crimes, and gay rights around the world. For what it's worth, many readers here haven't spoken out about ENDA until the last day or two to say it was more important. It is. But it won't happen anytime soon and well into the new Administration. Duwayne is right. Just because we have a black president doesn't mean he is going to fight all of our battles.

[Jamey]

we can all multitask here. To say that there are bigger fish to fry (ENDA, for example) is to say that we have finite resources and that we're spending far too many on this. Really?

As you say, we're talking about traditional media appearances, blog posts, and press releases so far. Hardly a lot of human resource time. But we've spent time making it loud and clear that LGBT folks have a problem with this.

[Raymond]

Rod this question may come across as random ...

but where and how do you find your pictures? That photo of Rice and Zalmay (?) is just perfect for this story and your photos are always like butter. Just curious.

[Sui]

Another lot of American brand stupidity. I swear, this is just a repeat of previous discrimination in history.

Libterty and Justice for ALL, Congress men and women, or have you forgotten that clause of our beloved Pledge of Alligence?

I swear... every day it seems that the once proud ideals of America are descending into something that's starting to look a lot like what Hitler was after...