On January 23rd, the U.S. cast a vote in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny consultative status to two LGBT organizations, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, and the Danish group LBL.

More than 3000 organizations hold consultative status, the only means by which NGO's may take part in discussions on UN policy.

In voting to dismiss the groups' applications, the US was joined by Cameroon, China, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

The U.S. stance is particularly appalling in light of the fact that the US State Department has studied the need for global political assistance for LGBT people. According to Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, "The State Department's 'Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' show severe human rights violations based on gender identity and sexual orientation occur around the world."

In Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death. Zimbabwe's dictator Robert Mugabe has declared gays and lesbians to be "people without rights."

Given that the LGBT rights in the U.S. are better than in many parts of the world, with Massachusetts allowing gay marriages (a right which exists outside the U.S. only in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Spain), and given that a lack of LGBT consultative status at the UN will likely have the effect of countering progress on LGBT rights worldwide, it's entirely possible that the U.S.'s homophobic action at the UN will have the ironic result of increased immigration of LGBT people to the United States. I wonder if the religious conservatives influencing the Bush adminisration considered that.

Information:
"United Nations: U.S. Aligned With Iran in Anti-Gay Vote"
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