With liberty and justice...

...for straight white males.

Rights Groups Fault U.S. Vote in U.N. on Gays - New York Times

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 26 — Human rights organizations and the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus protested on Thursday a decision by the Bush administration to back a measure introduced by Iran denying two gay rights groups a voice at the United Nations.

In a vote Monday, the United States supported Iran's recommendation to deny consultative status at the United Nations' Economic and Social Council to the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Belgium.

Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents to meetings of the council.

Among countries with which the United States sided were Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, nations the State Department has cited in annual reports for their harsh treatment of homosexuals.

Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who is co-chairman of the caucus, wrote a letter to John R. Bolton, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, saying the move was "a major setback" for "a core component of our nation's human rights diplomacy."

According to Parade Magazine's ranking of "The 10 Worst Dictators," we're in bed (platonically speaking) with number 1 (Omar al-Bashir, Sudan), number 4 (Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe), number 9 (Seyed Ali Khamane’i, Iran), and number 15 (Fidel Castro, Cuba). Makes you feel good to be an American, don't it?

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