Kelsey McGalliard
March 20, 2009
9:00 am
The United States, in a reversal of Bush administration policy, has decided to sign on to a U.N. declaration that calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality, the State Department said on Wednesday. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the Obama administration, which took office eight weeks ago, would now join 66 other U.N. member states who supported a U.N. statement in December that condemned human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. "The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," Wood told reporters."As such, we join with 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."According to the sponsors of the Franco-Dutch text of the document, homosexuality is illegal in 77 countries, seven of which punish it by death. At a townhall meeting in Brussels earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was pressed on her views on gay rights. "Human rights is and always will be one of the pillars of our foreign policy," she said. "In particular, persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something we take very seriously."
I am glad that the United States decided to sign the declaration because there is no reason that anyone should be discriminating against any one. The United States to me should be like what I was taught to think of it a free place that accepts all and until now we didn’t, so it is definitely good to hear that we are finally making some big changes in 2008. Reading about how in a few countries death is the punishment for homosexuality is definitely is something that needs to stop because that is unfair to those citizens.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52H5CK20090318?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10112
2 comments:
I agree completely with you. But no matter what we sign, there will always be discrimination even if it's informal. It's sad, but true. Honestly this problem may never be solved because people will never stop stereotyping and judging others.
I would have to agree with the both of you. I feel even if this is a step in the right direction people are always going to discriminate. It's human nature and something that will happen no matter what document is signed.
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