June 17, 2011 08:02 PM UTC

U.N. Council Passes Equal Rights Resolution

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• by: droll

The U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution, introduced by South Africa, supporting equal rights, regardless of sexual orientation, or gender identification.

The passing could’ve been more resounding; 23 countries voted yes, nineteen no, and three abstentions. South Africa took a lot of criticism from other African nations and stood firm.

Sec. Clinton does us proud:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made gay rights a key focus of the State Department’s human rights agenda, expressing her view that “gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.”

At a Gay Pride event this month at the State Department, Clinton said, “Men and women are harassed, beaten, subjected to sexual violence, even killed, because of who they are and whom they love. Some are driven from their homes or countries, and many who become refugees confront new threats in their countries of asylum. In some places, violence against the LGBT community is permitted by law and inflamed by public calls to violence; in others, it persists insidiously behind closed doors.”

Granted none of this fixes even our own country’s problems with the issue, but it’s something. The resolution also commissions a study of discriminatory laws and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/…

Supporting Resolution: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, UK, USA, Uruguay.

Against: Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Moldova, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Uganda.

Abstentions: Burkina Faso, China, Zambia

Absent: Kyrgyzstan, Libya (suspended)

Co-sponsors: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech

Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, and Uruguay.