More than sixty countries have already signed the declaration.

The international statement also calls for strong legislative measures to oppose all forms of discrimination and abuses that occur because of sexual orientation and gender identity. It says, "We urge States to take all the necessary measures, in particular legislative or administrative, to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests; or detention."

The UN statement also recognizes that other forms of oppression based on sexual orientation or gender identity are also violations of Human Rights, including "the practice of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary arrest or detention, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights, including the right to health."

Even the sexually backward Republic of Cyprus signed the statement; why should the US Government - or how *could* it - justify its alliance with the most reactionary regimes on the planet when it comes to sexual identity and gender politics? Why is the US refusing to decriminalize gay, lesbian and bisexual desire and the multitude of transsexual and gender identities - or even refusing to accept the simple standard that is common in all Western countries for decades now, that gender-based discrimination of all forms is a violation of Human Rights?

But what are we saying here? The US refusal to sign to sign the international declaration is perfectly in line with all its other policies:
<> The US has directly caused the death of about two million people in the Middle East in recent years, and it continues along the same path;

<> It continues to arm and fund the zionist genocidal extermination of the Palestinian people;

<> It still holds Iraq and Afghanistan under brutal occupation;

<> It continues to arm and fund the military occupation and ethnic cleansing of Cyprus and repeated invasions of Kurdistan by the armed forces of Turkey;

<> The US armed and funded the recent invasion of Lebanon in which wholesale massacres of civilians took place by the armed forces of Israel;

<> It continues to bomb Pakistan on an almost daily and weekly basis and has done so throughout this entire year in an undeclared war against the people that's characterized by entire villages being wiped out through missile strikes launched from the air by remote controlled robot aircraft flying over the area navigated from an office in Florida;

<> The US has a strategic alliance with the most reactionary regimes in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where women are worth less than donkeys;

<> The US has an ideological alliance with the dictatorship of clerics in Iran - both countries declare "we have no suffering gays here";

<> Elements of the US Government and its shadow operatives created, funded and armed the world's most infamous political and religious reactionary and murderous global movement and dressed it up as "moslem fundamentalism" which they use and manipulate for their own gain,

<> Elements of the US Government and its shadow operatives caused the world's most infamous act of terrorism on September 11 and blamed it on their other child, "moslem fundamentalism", initiating a global crusade against Islam and the Arab people that has evolved into a world war whose authors envision it as "endless";

<> In the US one of every hundred adults is behind bars - in jail, or prison. One percent of all adults!

There are about 2.5 million prisoners within the US, and more than 4 million more on various levels of probation, home arrest, people in the community chained with electronic perimeter alarms or other Court-ordered movement restrictions, etc., totaling the number of people who are considered to be "in the system" to more than 7 million.

Among Black men aged between 20 and 34, ten percent are behind bars. Read this again: 10% of all young adult men in the US are in jail or prison.

A large number of prisoners are there for non-violent offences such as possession of an illegal substance, or driving while intoxicated, held together for years in the same cells with child murderers, rapists and robbers.

In the meantime, war criminals who are responsible for the slaughter of large numbers of innocent civilians and for torturing chained, bound and gagged prisoners go unpunished - or promoted to higher ranks. While the US bankers and politicians who create and profit from war and economic mayhem are celebrated, honored and made richer.

<> Within the US there are more than one million homeless people. Many among them suffer from drug addiction, mental illness or physical disabilities. About a third of them are families with children, all of whom live on the streets.

Among them there are hundreds of thousands of people whom the Government lists as "chronically homeless" - meaning they've been homeless for more than a year, or became repeatedly homeless four or more times within one year.

In every major city in the US every morning crews collect the dead bodies of homeless people who died in the night due to cold, overdose, or by violence - increasingly, there's violence against homeless people carried out by roving bands of young studs from "good homes" in the suburbs who go to the cities specifically for that purpose: to beat up on the homeless for fun.

And we wonder why the US Government refused to sign a Human Rights statement on discrimination due to "sexual preference and gender identity"? Hah!

It will sign it of course, in time, because it's easier to keep up good impressions with lies than to provoke the world constantly with open arrogance. A US signature will help to conceal a little better the horror of what the Domestic and Foreign policies of the US Empire really are.

Here is what everything hinges on: "We reaffirm the principle of universality of human rights, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ...which proclaims that 'all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights' ". How much more simple can it get?

But those who spend trillions to create and maintain a world of inequality and injustice where instability, death and torture produce profits and power know exactly what they're doing.

The important thing is that those of us who oppose them must also get to know exactly what we're doing. We need a Liberation Movement that can be more aware, more efficient, more organized and ultimately able to overrun the opponents' formations of Corporate and State power and facilitate their replacement with a system that's rooted in Peace and Justice on all levels and by all definitions.

But there's the catch:
to do that, we need to know exactly what we're doing.

Petros Evdokas
from the Belly of the Beast
petros-evdokas.cyprus-org.net/Another-sort-of-Introduction.html
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More Readings
Please see the news item below, and links to other related items at the end of the page.
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US balks at backing condemnation of anti-gay laws
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
December 19, 2008

UNITED NATIONS – Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

In all, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them homosexual acts can be punished by execution.

Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign, indicating that some parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.

"It's disappointing," said Rama Yade, France's human rights minister, of the U.S. position — which she described as in contradiction with America's long tradition as a defender of human rights.

According to some of the declaration's backers, U.S. officials expressed concern in private talks that some parts of the declaration might be problematic in committing the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In numerous states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.

Carolyn Vadino, a spokeswoman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., stressed that the United States — despite its unwillingness to sign — condemned any human rights violations related to sexual orientation.

Gay rights activists nonetheless were angered by the U.S. position.

"It's an appalling stance — to not join with other countries that are standing up and calling for decriminalization of homosexuality," said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

She expressed hope that the U.S. position might change after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

Also denouncing the U.S. stance was Richard Grenell, who until two months ago had been the chief spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N.

"It is ridiculous to suggest that there are legal reasons why we can't support this resolution — common sense says we should be the leader in making sure other governments are granting more freedoms for their people, not less," said Grenell, who described himself as a gay Republican. "The U.S. lack of support on this issue only dims our once bright beacon of hope and freedom for those who are persecuted and oppressed."

More than 50 countries opposed to the declaration, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, issued a joint statement Thursday criticizing the initiative as an unwarranted attempt to give special prominence to gays and lesbians. The statement suggested that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest.

The declaration also has been opposed by the Vatican, a stance which prompted a protest in Rome earlier this month.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Roman Catholic Church opposed the death penalty and other harsh repression of gays and lesbians, but he expressed concern that the declaration would be used as pressure against those who believe marriage rights should not be extended to gays.

A new Vatican statement, issued Thursday, endorsed the call to end criminal penalties against gays, but said that overall the declaration "gives rise to uncertainty in the law and challenges existing human norms."

The European nations backing the declaration waged their campaign in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Dutch foreign affairs minister, Maxime Verhagen, said countries that endorsed that 1948 document had no right to carve out exceptions based on religion or culture that allowed discrimination against gays.

"Human rights apply to all people in all places at all times," he said. "I will not accept any excuse."

He acknowledged that the new declaration had only symbolic import, but said it marked the first time such a large number of nations had raised the cause of gay rights in the context of General Assembly proceedings.

"This statement aims to make debate commonplace," he said. "It is not meant to be a source of division, but to eliminate the taboo that surrounds the issue."

Although the declaration's backers were pleased that nations on six continents had signed it, there were only two from Asia and four from Africa.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
From:
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_us/un_gay_rights_2/print
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The text of the UN declaration:
dantoujours.blogspot.com/2008/12/un-gay-decriminalization-document.html

Another report from the French Press Agency (AFP)
"Coalition asks UN to decriminalize homosexuality"
www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gwpMZ2XygyJue2TZuNTuX0lU9rHA

"1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says"
www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28cnd-prison.html

"Prisons, Jails & Probation - Overview"
drugwarfacts.org/cms/

"New High In U.S. Prison Numbers"
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/28/ST2008022803016.html

US homeless population:
www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/30homeless.html

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