'Gays Threaten Continuation of Human Race'
A disturbing anti-gay development took place on February 13 in Switzerland at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to a news release from a non-governmental organization, UN Watch.
In addition to learning about Libya's promotion of hatred against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons via the release, I am pleased to know that the council will sponsor a panel on March 7 pertaining to the brutal mistreatment of gays around the world. Let's hope that discussion is streamed on the web for all of us to watch next month.
For now, get familiar with the comments by the Libyan representative and the push against his thinking by more enlightened human rights advocates. From the release:
Gays threaten the continuation of the human race, Libya's delegate told a planning meeting of the UN Human Rights Council today, reported the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group. It was the first appearance in the 47-nation body by the post-Gaddafi government, whose membership was restored in November following Libya's suspension in March.
Protesting the council's first panel discussion on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, scheduled for March 7th, Libya's representative told the gathering of ambassadors today that LGBT topics "affect religion and the continuation and reproduction of the human race." He added that, were it not for their suspension, Libya would have opposed the council's June 2011 resolution on the topic . . .
"We were happy to see the Gaddafi regime finally suspended last year," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which in 2010 led a campaign of 70 human rights groups to expel the Libyan dictator from the council membership, "but this is not the Arab Spring we hoped for."
"Today's homophobic outburst by the new Libyan government, together with its routine abuse of prisoners and other ongoing violations, underscores the serious questions many have about the new regime's commitment to improving on the dark record of its predecessor," said Neuer . . .
According to Neuer, however, "Libya's reinstatement, supported by 123 states including all of the Western democracies, was carried out precipitously and without any evidence of a commitment to human rights domestically or abroad.
"Gays are now paying the price, with their right to be free from execution and violent attacks in places like Iran under attack at the UN by a country that democratic countries fought to liberate, and by a government that our leaders helped install. Instead, the new Libya is pandering to the Islamists in its ranks. It's alarming."
And this was the regime the Obama administration and its European allies put into place. I've argued many times before, Obama and Clinton's push for LGBT rights internationally was intended for DOMESTIC consumption during an election year and was NOT in any way reflective of the administration's or the Democratic Party's support for LGBT rights anywhere. We need to keep this in mind as the Obama administration pushes for war with Iran.
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