UN backs gay rights for first time ever

[garbon]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110617/ap_on_re_us/un_un_gay_rights

The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries.

The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commissioning a global report on discrimination against gays.

But activists called it an important shift on an issue that has divided the global body for decades, and they credited the Obama administration's push for gay rights at home and abroad.

"This represents a historic moment to highlight the human rights abuses and violations that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face around the world based solely on who they are and whom they love," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement.

Following tense negotiations, members of the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council narrowly voted in favor of the declaration put forward by South Africa, with 23 votes in favor and 19 against.

Backers included the U.S., the European Union, Brazil and other Latin American countries. Those against included Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan. China, Burkina Faso and Zambia abstained, Kyrgyzstan didn't vote and Libya was suspended from the rights body earlier.

The resolution expressed "grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity."

More important, activists said, it also established a formal U.N. process to document human rights abuses against gays, including discriminatory laws and acts of violence. According to Amnesty International, consensual same-sex relations are illegal in 76 countries worldwide, while harassment and discrimination are common in many more.

"Today's resolution breaks the silence that has been maintained for far too long," said John Fisher of the gay rights advocacy group ARC International.

The resolution calls for a panel discussion next spring with "constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against" gays, lesbians and transgender people.

The prospect of having their laws scrutinized in this way went too far for many of the council's 47-member states.

"We are seriously concerned at the attempt to introduce to the United Nations some notions that have no legal foundation," said Zamir Akram, Pakistan's envoy to the U.N. in Geneva, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Nigeria claimed the proposal went against the wishes of most Africans. A diplomat from the northwest African state of Mauritania called the resolution "an attempt to replace the natural rights of a human being with an unnatural right."

Boris Dittrich of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch said it was important for the U.S. and Western Europe to persuade South Africa to take the lead on the resolution so that other non-Western countries would be less able to claim the West was imposing its values.

At the same time, he noted that the U.N. has no enforcement mechanism to back up the resolution. "It's up to civil society to name and shame those governments that continue abuses," Dittrich said.

The Obama administration has been pushing for gay rights both domestically and internationally.

In March, the U.S. issued a nonbinding declaration in favor of gay rights that gained the support of more than 80 countries at the U.N. In addition, Congress recently repealed the ban on gays openly serving in the military, and the Obama administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the U.S. law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

The vote in Geneva came at a momentous time for the gay rights debate in the U.S. Activists across the political spectrum were on edge Friday as New York legislators considered a bill that would make the state the sixth — and by far the biggest — to allow same-sex marriage.

Asked what good the U.N. resolution would do for gays and lesbians in countries that opposed the resolution, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer said it was a signal "that there are many people in the international community who stand with them and who support them, and that change will come."

"It's a historic method of tyranny to make you feel that you are alone," he said. "One of the things that this resolution does for people everywhere, particularly LGBT people everywhere, is remind them that they are not alone."

[Neil]

Another failure for the UN.

[Viking]

I note with pleasure that Libya wasn't there to vote against it on the grounds that we are bombing it back to the bronze age.*

*Note to self, buy more bombs and bombers so we can bomb them back to the stone age.

[garbon]

Nigeria claimed the proposal went against the wishes of most Africans.

Considering what most Africans feel is appropriate, I'm alright that this is against their wishes.

[Neil]

I note with pleasure that Libya wasn't there to vote against it on the grounds that we are bombing it back to the bronze age.*

*Note to self, buy more bombs and bombers so we can bomb them back to the stone age.

Who's we?  Aren't you Icelandic?

[derspiess]

Congrats.  Will this be a new gay holiday?

[Viking]

I note with pleasure that Libya wasn't there to vote against it on the grounds that we are bombing it back to the bronze age.*

*Note to self, buy more bombs and bombers so we can bomb them back to the stone age.

Who's we?  Aren't you Icelandic?

Iceland is in NATO.. but I have Norwegian Passport now.

[The Brain]

Another failure for the UN.

It gets better.

[garbon]

Congrats.  Will this be a new gay holiday?

Who cares much about the UN? Though Google says that today marks the start of gay pride in Columbus.

[Neil]

I note with pleasure that Libya wasn't there to vote against it on the grounds that we are bombing it back to the bronze age.*

*Note to self, buy more bombs and bombers so we can bomb them back to the stone age.

Who's we?  Aren't you Icelandic?

Iceland is in NATO.. but I have Norwegian Passport now.

Iceland is in NATO, but only as a base.  They're useless.

Norway isn't terrible though.  They've taken part in the mission, so they get credit for that.

[Neil]

Another failure for the UN.

It gets better.

It does?  How does it get better?

[derspiess]

Who cares much about the UN? Though Google says that today marks the start of gay pride in Columbus.

The Columbus gays (hey, that sounds like a baseball team) have not had any pride until today? 

[The Brain]

Another failure for the UN.

It gets better.

It does?  How does it get better?

Turn that frown upside down for starters.

[Neil]

Another failure for the UN.

It gets better.

It does?  How does it get better?

Turn that frown upside down for starters.

I'm always happy.  Life's been good to me.  It takes more than some talkshop somewhere saying that gays are people to make it so.

[Ed Anger]

Congrats.  Will this be a new gay holiday?

Who cares much about the UN? Though Google says that today marks the start of gay pride in Columbus.

I assume OHGamer is fagging it up there.

I also thank you for the reminder, so I can avoid the city this weekend.