Ban Ki-moon, Superstar

I think this says it all, really - and with a "dance remix", yet...

Ban Ki-moon - The Time Has Come - remix!

www.allout.org/thetimehascome

It should never be a crime to be gay

Much to the horror of the fascist "Tea Party" Republicans in Texas and other American states with a fine history of supporting human rights causes [sic], President Obama has "come out" on the side of the gays in time for International Human Rights Day on 10th December.

From The Guardian today:

President Barack Obama has told US officials to consider how countries treat its gay and lesbian populations when making decisions about allocating foreign aid.

In the first ever US government strategy to deal with human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens abroad, a presidential memo issued on Tuesday instructs agencies using foreign aid to promote such rights.

Gay and lesbian lobby groups have reported an increase in human rights abuses in Africa and parts of the Middle East.

President Obama is among international leaders who have condemned a bill proposed in Uganda which would make some homosexual acts a crime punishable by death. The Ugandan parliament has recently re-opened the debate on the bill, which had been abandoned after an international outcry.

In the memo, Obama said: "I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world, whether it is passing laws that criminalise LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women and children for their perceived sexual orientation."

At the United Nations in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented this message in a speech to delegates (including representatives of the very countries who have introduced homophobic legislation and committed or supported vile anti-gay propaganda).

"It should never be a crime to be gay," she said. "Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."

Read Mrs Clinton's speech in full

It is about time the US took a stand against the many countries across the world where gay people are imprisoned, slandered, abused or even killed for their sexuality.

However, as many commentators have wrily observed, shouldn't the US put its own house in order now and repeal all the anti-gay legislation that some of its own States have introduced?

What is the point of the UN?

For the last 10 years sexual orientation has been included in a list of discriminatory grounds for executions – a UN resolution that urges countries to protect the right to life of all people, calling on them to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. Sexual orientation was previously listed as one of these forms of discrimination, alongside ethnicity, religious belief and linguistic minorities. But now sexual orientation has been taken out of the list. It passed on a narrow vote of 79 for, 70 against, 17 abstentions and 26 absent.

Read the article in the Pink Paper

Further to Paul Burston's blog about this shameful issue, here in full, are the countries who voted on the amendment, for and against.

In favour of the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (79) (In other words, these countries cast a vote saying it's acceptable to execute gays):

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, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, 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

Opposed to the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (70) (In other words, these countries voted that execution of gays is unacceptable):

Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia (FS), Monaco, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

Abstain (17):

Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Belarus, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Colombia, Fiji, Mauritius, Mongolia, Papau New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Absent (26):

Albania, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Marshall Island, Mauritania, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Sao Tome Principe, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan

I ask again, what is the bloody point of the United Nations and its constant posturing statements on "human rights" when it can allow its own constitution to be hijacked in this way by a succession of rabidly fundamentalist Muslim, undemocratic, sinister nations whose own human rights record is open to question? Why are pariah states such as Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar (Burma) accepted into the UN at all?