Homosexualists worldwide celebrated after the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of an amendment submitted by the U.S., and advocated by Hillary Clinton, to include sexual orientation in a resolution condemning unjustified slayings.
-- From "UN victory for gay rights supporters" posted at Reuters 12/22/10
The 192-nation U.N. General Assembly voted to restore a reference to killings due to sexual orientation that had been deleted from a resolution condemning unjustified slayings. The shift came after the United States submitted an amendment to restore the reference, which the General Assembly’s human rights committee removed last month from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions that is adopted every two years.
The U.S. amendment that restored the reference to sexual orientation was adopted with 93 votes in favor, 55 against and 27 abstentions. The amended resolution was then approved with 122 yes votes, one against and 62 abstentions. (Saudi Arabia cast the sole vote against the resolution, and the United States was among those who abstained.)
Not everyone was happy. Zimbabwe’s U.N. Ambassador Chitsaka Chipaziwa told the General Assembly that there was no need to refer explicitly to sexual orientation: “We will not have it foisted on us. We cannot accept this, especially if it entails accepting such practices as bestiality, pedophilia and those other practices many societies would find abhorrent in their value systems.” A European diplomat later told Reuters that Chipaziwa’s statement was “disgraceful.”
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From "Gay advocates win victory at UN" by Anita Snow, The Associated Press 12/21/10
The battle underscores the divide between U.N. members with their diverse religious and cultural sensibilities on gay rights issues and sparked something of a culture war at the international body. . . . A coalition of African countries said it was "greatly alarmed" that the direct reference to sexual orientation was included, and called it an attempt "to create new rights, new standards or new groups."
President Obama said the vote "marks an important moment in the struggle for civil and human rights."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. reintroduced the language to send an unequivocal message that "No one should be killed for who they are."
"Sadly, many people around the world continue to be targeted and killed because of their sexual orientation," she said. "These heinous crimes must be condemned and investigated wherever they occur."
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From "Gay rights in focus before UN vote" by The Associated Press 12/19/10
A culture war has broken out at the United Nations over whether gays should be singled out for the same protections as other minorities whose lives are threatened.
Benin, a largely Christian country of 8 million with a sizable Muslim population, argued that "sexual orientation had no legal foundation in any international human rights instruments." Morocco, an Arab country in north Africa that is almost exclusively Muslim, asserted that such selectivity "accommodated particular interests and groups over others" and urged all U.N. member states "to devote special attention to the protection of the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society."
More than two-thirds of U.N. members, many of them Muslim nations, are refusing to sign a separate United Nations statement condemning human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, especially with regard to the application of the death penalty and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
Under the Bush administration in 2008, even the United States refused to join all other Western nations in signing that declaration, arguing that the broad framing of the language in the statement might conflict with U.S. laws.
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From "US Forces Vote on “Sexual Orientation” in General Assembly" by Lauren Funk & Samantha Singson, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute 12/23/10
With support from the European Union, the Nordic countries and Canada, the US launched a massive campaign to re-insert “sexual orientation” into a UN resolution before final approval in the General Assembly. Reportedly, the US was working “at the highest levels” to push countries to support its amendment.
One delegation blasted the US-led attempt to reintroduce “sexual orientation” into the text as “international legal adventurism.”
President Obama applauded supporters of the US amendment. In a statement, Obama said, “While today’s adoption of an inclusive resolution is important, so too are the conversations that have now begun in capitals around the world about inclusion, equality, and discrimination.”
The high-level political pressure exerted in this resolution caps an aggressive year-long campaign by the Obama administration to push “sexual orientation” issues at the UN and domestically.
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Click headlines below to read previous articles:
Obama Moving Gay Agenda at UN
Obama Elevates Homosexuality via United Nations
UN Rejects Homosexual Group Supported by Obama
World-wide Anti-family Forces Seek Obama's Support
Obama Ceding Parental Rights to U.N.
United Nations = Enemy of the Family
