Obama Administration Demands Anti-Discrimination Efforts from U.N.

LGBT newspaper San Diego
LGBT newspaper San Diego
President Obama addressing the U.N. in 2009\Source: zimbio.com

In a marked shift from the Bush administration’s largely silent policy concerning anti-LGBT violence and international recognition of gay rights, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it is committed to fighting against discrimination of gays and lesbians around the world — and called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to do the same.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, issued a statement explaining that “the U.S. government is firmly committed to supporting the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals to lead productive and dignified lives, free from fear and violence.”

Obama’s statement was the latest in a string of recent initiatives allying the Obama Administration with gay rights and LGBT equality. In the wake of announcements deeming DOMA’s definition of marriage unconstitutional and ending the longstanding DADT policy towards gays in the military, Obama preceded yesterday’s statements to the United Nations with an announcement last weekend regarding the creation of a government position to monitor gay rights in the Western Hemisphere.

 

Vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign Fred Sainz said that the administration’s actions indicate a shift into the position that the U.S. government should have held all along as a world leader in the promotion of LGBT rights, equality, non-violence and non-discrimination.

“In the past two years more positive change for and on behalf of gay people has been made than ever before,” Sainz concluded.

 

 

 

 

 

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