U.N. General Assembly won't say you shouldn't murder gay people

[Smoke]

Governments Remove Sexual Orientation from UN Resolution Condemning Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

U.N. panel cuts gay reference from violence measure | World | Reuters

The General Assembly passes a resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings every two years. The 2008 declaration included an explicit reference to killings committed because of the victims' sexual preferences.

But this year, Morocco and Mali introduced an amendment on behalf of African and Islamic nations that called for deleting the words "sexual orientation" and replacing them with "discriminatory reasons on any basis."

That amendment narrowly passed 79-70. The resolution then was approved by the committee, which includes all 192 U.N. member states, with 165 in favour, 10 abstentions and no votes against.

The U.S. delegation voted against the deletion but abstained from the vote on the final resolution. Diplomats said the U.S. delegation also voiced disappointment at the decision to remove the reference to sexual orientation.

The resolution, which is expected to be formally adopted by the General Assembly in December, specifies many other types of violence, including killings for racial, national, ethnic, religious or linguistic reasons and killings of refugees, indigenous people and other groups.​

Countries opposed to saying you shouldn't murder people for being gay:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe​

 

[Skwim]

The U.S. delegation voted against the deletion but abstained from the vote on the final resolution. Diplomats said the U.S. delegation also voiced disappointment at the decision to remove the reference to sexual orientation.

Be interesting to know why.

 

[Smoke]

Be interesting to know why.

Well, nobody voted against the revised resolution.

Interesting to see that Cuba is still one of the hater nations. Mariela Castro still has a lot of work to do, apparently.

 

[Sunstone]

You should not murder gay folks? My! My! What a novel idea! I'll need some time to think about that one, Smoke. It's not at all obvious.

 

[Sunstone]

China was opposed to saying you should not murder gay people? That sure makes me want to send them another 50,000 jobs.

 

[tomato1236]

I don't see why this is a big deal. Doesn't "any basis" include sexual orientation?

 

[Duck]

Well at least this time the U.S. didn't vote for deleting references to sexual orientation.

 

[Smoke]

I don't see why this is a big deal. Doesn't "any basis" include sexual orientation?

A number of specific bases were listed. What do you suppose was the motive for deleting just that one?

Most of those countries criminalize homosexuality. In some countries (Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somaliland, UAE, Yemen), gay people can still be sentenced to death. In some others, they can still be sentenced to life in prison.

 

[tomato1236]

A number of specific bases were listed. What do you suppose was the motive for deleting just that one?

I don't know. Doesn't "Any basis" include sexual orientation?"

 

[Smoke]

I don't know.

I don't believe you.

 

[tomato1236]

I don't believe you.

Well I could certainly guess, particularly if I was looking for some evil motive in it. But really. If they're trying to get permission to kill people for being gay, they haven't done it. If anything they have further limited their license to kill people for discriminatory reasons...if the organization had the intention to uphold these documents anyway.

 

[Twilight Hue]

A bit surprised that Bahamas and Morocco is on the list. I had the impression that they were sexually tolerant countries. Guess its only on the beaches.

 

[Midnight Pete]

Countries opposed to saying you shouldn't murder people for being gay:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe​

Be glad that you don't live in any of those countries, Smoke. Also, don't expect to have them all turn pro-gay.

 

[Magic Man]

I don't know. Doesn't "Any basis" include sexual orientation?"

I actually had the same question, but if you're going to include other bases like race and ethnicity, then you might as well include sexual orientation specifically, too. And I think the better idea would be to just include "or discrimination on any basis" along with the rest, rather than take something else out.

I think it's subtle, but the idea here is to make it vague enough to allow some countries to continue to make homosexuality illegal. Otherwise, there's no reason to take this part out that was already included.

 

[Magic Man]

Be glad that you don't live in any of those countries, Smoke. Also, don't expect to have them all turn pro-gay.

I don't think anyone expects them to. I think we'd all just settle for them not punishing people in any way for being gay (like not imprisoning them or sentencing them to death). Hell, in this case, we'd settle for the UN staying specifically against criminalizing homosexuality.

 

[Penumbra]

Governments Remove Sexual Orientation from UN Resolution Condemning Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions

U.N. panel cuts gay reference from violence measure | World | Reuters

The General Assembly passes a resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings every two years. The 2008 declaration included an explicit reference to killings committed because of the victims' sexual preferences.

But this year, Morocco and Mali introduced an amendment on behalf of African and Islamic nations that called for deleting the words "sexual orientation" and replacing them with "discriminatory reasons on any basis."

That amendment narrowly passed 79-70. The resolution then was approved by the committee, which includes all 192 U.N. member states, with 165 in favour, 10 abstentions and no votes against.

The U.S. delegation voted against the deletion but abstained from the vote on the final resolution. Diplomats said the U.S. delegation also voiced disappointment at the decision to remove the reference to sexual orientation.

The resolution, which is expected to be formally adopted by the General Assembly in December, specifies many other types of violence, including killings for racial, national, ethnic, religious or linguistic reasons and killings of refugees, indigenous people and other groups.​

Countries opposed to saying you shouldn't murder people for being gay:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe​

Bahamas and Russia? Really?

Hmm.

 

[.lava]

Countries opposed to saying you shouldn't murder people for being gay:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe​

so if someone kills gay person in one of those nations he would not be charged with murderer. is that it?

.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Be glad that you don't live in any of those countries, Smoke. Also, don't expect to have them all turn pro-gay.

One of my friends growing up was from Botswana. His parents moved the family back there just as we were starting high school.

He was living there when he came out as gay. I can't imagine how it was for him there.

It's hard for me to say for sure, but I think his experience as a gay teenager there was a big part of what led him to commit suicide.