U.S. to
Support U.N. Gay Rights Declaration

The Obama administration will support a United Nations declaration affirming that sexual orientation and gender identity are included in international human rights protections, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday evening.

According to officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because members of Congress were still being notified, the Obama administration had reviewed the reasons why the Bush administration opposed the declaration, and had decided to notify its French sponsors that the United States would support it.

The U.S. State Department issued an official statement Tuesday afternoon: "The United States supports the U.N. Statement on 'Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity,' and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of this Statement that condemns human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity wherever they occur. The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with the other supporters of this Statement and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

The United States originally did not join more than 60 countries that signed the historic declaration in December, putting the U.S. in the company of gay rights opponents such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and the Vatican. The Bush administration rejected the non-binding declaration on technical legal grounds concerning federal and state jurisdiction over gay rights.

The exact statement of the U.N. follows:

Petition "For a universal decriminalization of homosexuality"

Considering

The Universal declaration of Human Rights

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political, or other opinion, national, or social origin, property, birth, or other status.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Considering

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A [XXI] of 16 December 1966, entry into force 23 March 1976)

Article 17

1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Considering

The Human Rights Committee's decision in Toonen v. Australia (04 April 1994)

We ask the United Nations to request a universal abolition of the so-called "crime of homosexuality," of all "sodomy laws," and laws against so-called "unnatural acts" in all the countries where they still exist.