UN Passes Gay Rights Protection

Laurence_Fox · Jun 17, 2011

GENEVA -- 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 â€“ and by far the biggest â€“ 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."
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It's about time.

P · Jun 17, 2011

If I were to view this positively, I'd see it as an acknowledgement of a problem, and a resolution to resolve it, another step on the road towards equal rights for everyone.

If I were to view it cynically, I would, quite frankly, ask what this has done. It doesn't change anything for the people in those countries; it just allows the members of the U.N. to pat themselves on the back in a show of slactivism. Now it may evolve further in time, but currently, it means very little.

Amaury · Jun 17, 2011

P said: ↑

If I were to view this positively, I'd see it as an acknowledgement of a problem, and a resolution to resolve it, another step on the road towards equal rights for everyone.

If I were to view it cynically, I would, quite frankly, ask what this has done. It doesn't change anything for the people in those countries; it just allows the members of the U.N. to pat themselves on the back in a show of slactivism. Now it may evolve further in time, but currently, it means very little.
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Maybe so, but now, if homophobic people do something to homosexuals, legal action can be taken.

P · Jun 17, 2011

Amaury Garcia said: ↑

Maybe so, but now, if homophobic people do something to homosexuals, legal action can be taken.
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Hoh? Where does it say that, may I ask?

Saxima · Jun 17, 2011

Good, good for them. They deserve it just as much as anyone else.

Accalia · Jun 21, 2011

It's about time this has been done. I support them all way and I don't care what they are. And I'm going to sound stupid for this but is the US is part of this? All of the Us that is?

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UN Passes Gay Rights Protection

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