http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid68878.asp 12/20/08-12/22/08 U.S. Rejects U.N.’s Gay Rights Statement, Cites “Don’t Ask” A joint statement addressing homophobia and LGBT rights for the first time at the United Nations was tabled Thursday, without the backing of the United States. “We urge states to take all the necessary measures, in particular legislative or administrative, to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention,” the draft document read. The unprecedented gay rights declaration was proposed by the French and read by Argentinean ambassador Jorge Arguello. The nonbinding statement is…

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http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6496273 Gay Rights Activists Upset By U.S. Refusal to Sign UN Measure U.S. Only Major Western Nation Not to Sign Measure on Decriminalizing Homosexuality By DAVID CRARY Dec. 19, 2008— Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality. In all, 66 of the U.N.’s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them…

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