The UN Declaration on Decriminalization of Homosexuality

by Michael A. Jones

Published December 17, 2008 @ 04:43AM PT

How important is the UN declaration being organized by France - and to be finally presented before the United Nations later this week - that calls on governments around the world to stop persecuting LGBT persons by criminalizing homosexuality with penalties of prison time or death?

It actually is a fair question, given that the declaration is non-binding -- meaning that even if every country in the UN signed onto it, no one would be forced to abide by it.  On that sentiment alone, one might think that this declaration is a colossal waste of time.

But there's also something historic about this declaration.  First, the UN has largely ignored issues of sexual orientation and sexual identity for the past 60 years, meaning that this declaration will really be one of the first major statements issued by the UN as a whole on LGBT rights issues.  Second, right now there are 86 countries that criminalize homosexuality. That's almost half of the entire world.  Wouldn't it say something powerful if a band of countries came together - even if in a non-binding way - to say that these 86 countries are wrong?

And that's where I think the power of this Declaration lies.  And I'm not the only one.  In addition to France and 27 European Union countries who have signed on, word out is that Australia has agreed to sign onto the declaration. Australia, the same country where a few years ago the then-Prime Minister (John Howard) argued vehemently against gay adoption and same-sex marriage, and probably wouldn't be caught dead signing a declaration like this.  They're now joining the growing number of countries who have come together to condemn the criminalization and persecution of LGBT people around the globe.

You know who's still missing from this list though?

The United States.  (Mexico and Canada, our North American counter-parts, have signed the declaration.)

Peter Tatchell, one of the most quoted international LGBT activists out there, had this to say about the U.S.'s omission from the list of declaration endorsers: "The U.S. government is one of the only western democratic nations that has declined to support a United Nations declaration calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality."

Don't health care activists say the same thing about the U.S. when it comes to universal health care?  I think they do.

It may be a lost cause for the U.S. to endorse this declaration during the final days of our 43rd President.  But Susan Rice, President-Elect Obama's UN Ambassador, is going to be a hell of a lot more open to signing this declaration than our current Ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.  Still, it can be important to let your voice be heard, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has an action alert up on their Web site that allows you to contact the U.S. State Department (the Cabinet office that oversees the UN Ambassador), to urge the U.S. to sign this declaration.  Let Condi Rice know.  And then if the U.S. still hasn't acted in a few weeks, let Susan Rice know.

But either way, the U.S. should show leadership on this issue.  This declaration isn't about marriage or adoption or civil unions or any of the other LGBT issues that get fundamentalists in a bind.  This declaration is about stopping the execution of LGBT persons for being gay.  It's about stopping mandatory prison sentences for being gay.  It's about making the world a little less discriminatory and a little more tolerant.  And that, I think, is what the purpose of the UN was all about.