U.N. condemns killings motivated by bias

Over the objections of most African and Middle Eastern governments and the Vatican, the United Nations has struck a symbolic blow for gay and transgender rights in a resolution condemning killings motivated by bias. The Obama administration praised the action, though it abstained from a final vote. Every two years for more than a decade, members of the General Assembly have voted to denounce "extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions," killings by police or government agents without legal procedures or court-ordered executions motivated by discrimination. The resolution has urged nations to investigate slayings rooted in bias based on such categories as race, religion and sexual orientation. In 2010, however, a General Assembly committee on human rights approved an amendment sponsored by African and Islamic nations to remove sexual orientation from the list, a vote that was later overturned by the full General Assembly. The same committee addressed the issue again Tuesday, this time with a different outcome. Delegates in New York approved a resolution that condemned killings based on sexual orientation and, for the first time, gender identity. An amendment by the United Arab Emirates to strip sexual orientation and gender identity from the list was defeated 86-44. Gay rights advocates said the Vatican, a non-U.N. member with "observer" status, sought to remove all references to protected categories, but its proposal was never brought up for a vote. "A majority of governments worldwide decisively rebutted the ideology of hate and affirmed the simple but fundamental premise that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people have a right to exist," said Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The vote came as Uganda's parliament was preparing to consider legislation that would impose severe criminal penalties on homosexual conduct, with conflicting reports about whether it would authorize the death penalty. Human rights organizations say Iran and Saudi Arabia have executed men for gay sex acts. The United States voted to keep sexual orientation and gender identity among the categories protected from executions but abstained from the final committee vote approving the resolution, as it commonly does on measures related to the death penalty. President Obama's U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, nonetheless praised the outcome. "The proposed change would have effectively sent a message to the world that people targeted on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity do not enjoy the same right to life as others," Rice said in a statement. "The United States will fight to ensure that the remarkable progress the U.N. has made on LGBT issues in the last four years is not rolled back."