Friday, February 10, 2006

US and Iran Allies

Despite the current furor over Irans nuclear energy plans the U.S. and Iran found common cause at the UN. The US delegation supported Irans motion not to recognize gay organizations as official consultants to the UN. Religious fndamentalist Iran has a friend in Religious fundamentalist Amerika.

The vote occurred in the U.N. Economic and Social Council‘s Committee on Nongovernmental Organizations.

Washington then voted in favor of Iran‘s proposal to deny their applications, which carried 10-5 with three abstentions.
Following the vote, German envoy Martin Thuemmel said the committee decision "will haunt us for a long time" because it sent a message that it was acceptable to discriminate on the basis of an individual‘s sexual orientation.

The January 23 vote denying "consultative status" at the world body to the Belgium-based International Gay and Lesbian Association and the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians was a "drastic reversal" of Washington‘s previous stand on the issue, the U.S. House of Representatives members wrote.

Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents and speak at meetings of some U.N. bodies and conferences.

In voting for Iran‘s proposal, "the United States joined some of the world‘s most oppressive regimes, among them China, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe" and demonstrated "a reprehensible inconsistency" in the protection of rights based on sexual orientation, the lawmakers said.



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