While it is a sad thing that gays and lesbians here in the U.S. still do not have full equal rights in most states, gays and lesbians in some other countries have it much worse. In fact, homosexuality is considered a crime in 86 countries, punishable by prison time or even death.
So today a declaration will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly that calls for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.
While this declaration, if adopted, would not be binding resolution, it will send a strong and important message to the world.
According to Human Rights Watch, nations on four continents are coordinating the statement -- Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.
So far, more than 60 countries have signed on to the statement.
Who's missing? The United States of America.
This suggests that the US delegation to the UN believes that it's perfectly fine if some nations want to imprison or execute gay people simply for being gay.
This is an embarrassment and worse.
I hope that the Obama administration will waste no time in signing us on to the new declaration. Better late than never.
No comments:
Post a Comment