Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Coalition of the willful homophobes
In the past, the US has joined with the Vatican and Muslim countries to keep women's sexuality under wraps, so to speak (see: any of the UN Conferences on Women --ie, Beijing 1995). Now the US has joined a coalition of the willful homophobic nations--Zimbabwe, Sudan, Iran & China --in a bid to deny advocates of sexual minorities (read: gay, lesbian, bi-, transgendered, and let's throw in women) access to the United Nations as NGO (non-governmental organizations).
Democracy & Human Rights, anyone?
From: CommonDreams http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0130-07.htm
'Bigotry Conquers All,' Gay Rights Groups Say of U.S. Vote at UN
by Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON - The governments of the United States and Iran--part of President George W. Bush's ''axis of evil'' and his current nuclear bete noire--demonstrated rare unity of cause this past week when Washington backed a Tehran initiative to deny UN access to advocates of sexual minorities' rights...
''This vote is an aggressive assault by the U.S. government on the right of sexual minorities to be heard,'' said Scott Long, director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
''It is astonishing that the Bush administration would align itself with Sudan, China, Iran, and Zimbabwe in a coalition of the homophobic,'' Long said.
Democracy & Human Rights, anyone?
From: CommonDreams http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0130-07.htm
'Bigotry Conquers All,' Gay Rights Groups Say of U.S. Vote at UN
by Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON - The governments of the United States and Iran--part of President George W. Bush's ''axis of evil'' and his current nuclear bete noire--demonstrated rare unity of cause this past week when Washington backed a Tehran initiative to deny UN access to advocates of sexual minorities' rights...
''This vote is an aggressive assault by the U.S. government on the right of sexual minorities to be heard,'' said Scott Long, director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
''It is astonishing that the Bush administration would align itself with Sudan, China, Iran, and Zimbabwe in a coalition of the homophobic,'' Long said.
