U.S. Signs On To UN Declaration on Homosexuality Decriminalization

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

In an official declaration from the Obama Administration's Department of State released today, the United States has signed on to a United Nations Declaration in favor of the Worldwide Decriminalization of Homosexuality that the Bush Administration declined to sign onto when 66 others did so in December 2008.

UN Statement on "Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity"
Robert Wood
Acting Department Spokesman, Office of the Spokesman
BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Washington, DC
March 18, 2009

The United States supports the UN Statement on “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity,” and is pleased to join the other 66 UN member states who have declared their support of this Statement that condemns human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity wherever they occur.

The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with the other supporters of this Statement and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora.

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