UN Recognizes Gay Folk For The First Time Ever

The UN passed a resolution Friday which has some African and Middle Eastern governments furious: its first statement of support recognizing LGBT people worldwide.

The resolution recognizes the need for protections for LGBTs, extending the Universal Declaration for Human Rights to protect people of minority orientations and gender identities.  This Declaration asserts that these protected classes should not be exposed to violence nor discrimination based on their unique self-identified traits.

The nations that were for and against the resolution went along lines that you would come to expect based on their much-publicized policies:

"States supporting the 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

"States against the resolution: 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 of the resolution: 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, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, and Uruguay."

I find this interesting not just because this is the first resolution regarding LGBT people but because this is international recognition of classes of people not identifiable by the color of their skin or their religion, but that this resolution supports (in a roundabout way) people's right to self-determine their sexuality or gender classification.  That said, it's kind of sad that it took a decade into the 21st century for the UN to take this step.

[Queerty]