Posted on 04/30/2003 2:15:03 PM PDT by bedolido
CNSNews.com) - After a heated debate, the U.N. Human Rights Commission dropped discussion of a resolution to add "sexual orientation" to the U.N.'s definition of discrimination.
But family groups warn that supporters of the issue, which include most European countries and Canada, will lobby harder to pass the resolution when it comes up for a vote again next year.
"This issue never goes away," said Douglas Sylva, director of research at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute in New York, which opposed the resolution.
Brazil and 19 other nations co-sponsored a resolution calling on member states "to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation."
It also called for the U.N. "to pay due attention to the phenomenon of violations of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation."
Five countries - Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia - delayed the vote and introduced amendments designed to kill it, saying it did not reflect Islamic values. The 59th session of the commission, which is based in Geneva, adjourned Friday without voting on the issue.
Both sides of the homosexuality debate criticized the United States for its neutral stance. Homosexual advocacy groups said America should have co-sponsored the program; opponents said it should have joined other countries in introducing an amendment to strike "sexual orientation."
It was not clear whether the commission simply ran out of time or whether supporters dropped the issue after they realized they didn't have enough votes to win, Sylva said.
"What's interesting is this was the first time the gay rights advocacy groups have managed to place the issue on the U.N. human rights agenda, and we fully expect them to spend the year campaigning very hard for this to pass next year," he said.
Sylva said opponents are concerned that the resolution could be used to promote the legalization of homosexual marriage, the creation of hate crimes legislation and the imposition of restrictions on freedom of religion and speech.
"People in some countries, in Great Britain and Canada especially, have already been prosecuted for stating that homosexual behavior is sinful, so those are the things that we are most concerned about," he said.
Others said that adding "sexual orientation" to the definition of discrimination would only further weaken the credibility of the United Nations.
"The U.N. is already suspect in selected use of the term 'human rights' around the globe, but if it added gay rights based on sexual aberration, it would be a laughing stock, and it would undercut even legitimate efforts to secure human rights in countries that lack them," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute of Concerned Women for America.
Homosexual Groups Attack US Position
The Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual advocacy group, said it was disappointed at the commission's failure to come to a vote and expressed concern at what it called "widespread abuses based on sexual orientation around the globe."
"We are very disappointed that the Commission on Human Rights has chosen to postpone action that affirms the basic human rights of the world's gay, lesbian and bisexual population, who along with the transgender community, are routinely subjected to discrimination and inhumane treatment," Elizabeth Birch, HRC executive director, said in a statement.
The HRC sent letters to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current head of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights , urging them to support the resolution, the HRC said.
The State Department defended its decision not to support the resolution, saying it did not believe the commission was the correct forum for the issue to be discussed.
"In the United States, different aspects of the issues raised in this resolution are addressed by officials at the federal, state and local levels of government," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a press briefing.
"Given the multiple authorities addressing these issues and the wide variety of ways in which these matters arise, the United States was not prepared to endorse the current language of this resolution," he said.
America has a federal law against discrimination, "which makes it difficult for the United States in meetings like this to commit itself to something that requires some sort of universal application throughout the system," Boucher said.
The issue is expected to be taken up again next spring, when the Human Rights Commission holds its annual six-week meeting.
Even a broken religion is right once a millenium.
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