Quote:

---

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will endorse a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality that then-President George W. Bush had refused to sign, The Associated Press has learned.
U.S. officials said Tuesday they had notified the declaration's French sponsors that the administration wants to be added as a supporter. The Bush administration was criticized in December when it was the only western government that refused to sign on.

The move was made after an interagency review of the Bush administration's position on the nonbinding document, which was signed by all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Congress was still being notified of the decision. They said the administration had decided to sign the declaration to demonstrate that the United States supports human rights for all.
"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," said one official.

"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," the official said.

The official added that the United States was concerned about "violence and human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual individuals" and was also "troubled by the criminalization of sexual orientation in many countries."

"In the words of the United States Supreme Court, the right to be free from criminalization on the basis of sexual orientation 'has been accepted as an integral part of human freedom'," the official said.

Gay rights and other groups had criticized the Bush administration when it refused to sign the declaration when it was presented at the United Nations on Dec. 19. U.S. officials said then that the U.S. opposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but that parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.

---

Quote:

---

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will endorse a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality that then-President George W. Bush had refused to sign, The Associated Press has learned.

---

Quote:

---

johnm214 said:
Human rights trump state's rights?  What does that mean?  morally or legally?  Morally you are just saying "this is good" and legally its not the way things go in the US (we follow the law and I don't believe gays have been determined to be people under the fourteenth amendment yet, basically, or their discrimination has been held to be equal)

---

Quote:

---

zouden said:
But if the people decide to protect gays the way they blacks are, then it can be done on a federal (constitution) level and there's nothing the states can do about it.

---

Quote:

---

zouden said:
Special in the way that people of different races and genders are special. And by 'special', I mean 'equal to straight white males'.

Edit: and in any case, since when does the constitution provide benefits without specifying them? It required an amendment (actually several) to protect the rights of black people.

---

Quote:

---

nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation

---

Quote:

---

Seuss said:
> Then perhaps we should reinterpret the law so that gay people can marry, and file joint tax returns, and visit each other in hospital, and adopt children.

I agree completely.  It is insane that the courts support law that discriminates against homosexual people.  For the same reason, I am against 'hate crime' laws and the like that discriminate against non-xyz (minority, etc) people.  The law should treat everybody the same, regardless of race, religion, orientation, etc.

---