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Rights Groups Fault U.S. Vote in U.N. on Gays
NYTimes
By WARREN HOGE
Published: January 27, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 26 - Human rights organizations and the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus protested on Thursday a decision by the Bush administration to back a measure introduced by Iran denying two gay rights groups a voice at the United Nations.
In a vote Monday, the United States supported Iran's recommendation to deny consultative status at the United Nations' Economic and Social Council to the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Belgium.
Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents to meetings of the council.
Among countries with which the United States sided were Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, nations the State Department has cited in annual reports for their harsh treatment of homosexuals.
Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who is co-chairman of the caucus, wrote a letter to John R. Bolton, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, saying the move was "a major setback" for "a core component of our nation's human rights diplomacy."
Matt Foreman, executive director of the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said, "It is an absolute outrage that the United States has chosen to align itself with tyrants - all in a sickening effort to smother voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the world."
Mark P. Lagon, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in an interview that the vote did not stem from "being against gay rights groups" but was based on "the controversial history of the International Lesbian and Gay Association - an affiliate of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, was associated with it in the past and openly condoned pedophilia."
Scott Long, a Human Rights Watch director, said that the association had publicly expelled the man/boy group in 1994.
Martin Thümmel, the German delegate at the vote, protested that "those delegations that claim that this organization is supporting pedophilia are using this as a pretext in order to shirk the real issue of sexual orientation."
NYTimes
By WARREN HOGE
Published: January 27, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 26 - Human rights organizations and the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus protested on Thursday a decision by the Bush administration to back a measure introduced by Iran denying two gay rights groups a voice at the United Nations.
In a vote Monday, the United States supported Iran's recommendation to deny consultative status at the United Nations' Economic and Social Council to the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Belgium.
Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents to meetings of the council.
Among countries with which the United States sided were Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, nations the State Department has cited in annual reports for their harsh treatment of homosexuals.
Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who is co-chairman of the caucus, wrote a letter to John R. Bolton, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, saying the move was "a major setback" for "a core component of our nation's human rights diplomacy."
Matt Foreman, executive director of the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said, "It is an absolute outrage that the United States has chosen to align itself with tyrants - all in a sickening effort to smother voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the world."
Mark P. Lagon, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in an interview that the vote did not stem from "being against gay rights groups" but was based on "the controversial history of the International Lesbian and Gay Association - an affiliate of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, was associated with it in the past and openly condoned pedophilia."
Scott Long, a Human Rights Watch director, said that the association had publicly expelled the man/boy group in 1994.
Martin Thümmel, the German delegate at the vote, protested that "those delegations that claim that this organization is supporting pedophilia are using this as a pretext in order to shirk the real issue of sexual orientation."