6 Years and a new U.S. Gov. Administration later, the U.S. will sign United Nations declaration to protect gay and lesbian people worldwide

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 declaration has been placed for a vote several times and the United States voted with states such as Egypt, Syria, and Iran to oppose it!

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) has pushed the declaration for years. The United Nations may finally catch-up with the Organization of American States if the declaration is passed (story).

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) is a United Nations Non-Government Observer. Kentucky Equality Federation joined the International Lesbian and Gay Association in 2006.

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 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.

According to negotiators, the Bush team had concerns that those parts could commit the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.

When it was voted on in December, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with anti-gay discrimination. But 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality — and in several, homosexual acts can be punished by execution.

More than 50 nations, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, opposed the declaration. Some Islamic countries said at the time that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest. The declaration was also opposed by the Vatican.

Iowa Supreme Court to hear gay marriage case this week

The Iowa Supreme Court this week will hear a same-sex marriage case that could become a national victory for the gay rights movement or a chance to reinforce Iowa's decade-old gay marriage ban.

Oral arguments begin Tuesday. Varnum vs. Brien, could make Iowa the first state in the Midwest to legalize same-sex marriage.

Couples filed lawsuits in 2005 after the Polk County recorder denied them marriage licenses. Last year, Polk County district Judge Robert Hanson declared the marriage ban unconstitutional and ignited a legal fire storm. Hanson later suspended his ruling until the Iowa Supreme Court decides the case.

Camilla Taylor, senior legal counsel for the national gay-rights group Lambda Legal, which helped bring the case, said the couples who filed the lawsuit are optimistic they will prevail.

The Iowa high court, she said, has traditionally led the nation on civil rights issues. For instance, she said, the court eliminated a ban on interracial marriage more than a century before the U.S. Supreme Court declared such laws unconstitutional.

Most Iowa Supreme Court rulings take two to six months to deliver after oral arguments, Iowa Judicial Branch spokesman Steve Davis said.

The high court acknowledged the case's high profile last week by extending the length of oral arguments and creating a special Web page for the case at www.judicial.state.ia.us/Supreme_Court/. Such decisions are rare and generally reserved for complex cases, Davis said.

Court administrators also plan to stream the oral arguments live on the Supreme Court Website.

Florida Judge Rules Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional

A Florida judge has found the state's 31-year ban on gay adoptions to be unconstitutional, reports the Miami Herald. The ruling from Judge David Audlin Jr. will allow a gay Key West resident to adopt the teenage boy he has raised as a foster parent since 2001.

Judge Audlin said the adoption was in the child's "best interest" and asserted that barring gays from adopting conflicted with the state constitution since it targets a specific group for punishment. Audlin had appointed the foster father to be the boy's legal guardian in 2006. At a hearing earlier this year, the order says the boy testified that he wanted the man to be his "forever father...because I love him," the Herald reports.

''Contrary to every child welfare principle,'' Audlin wrote in his opinion, ''the gay adoption ban operates as a conclusive or irrebuttable presumption that...it is never in the best interest of any adoptee to be adopted by a homosexual.''

Florida and Mississippi are the only two states that currently forbid gays and lesbians from adopting children. (The Advocate)

LGTBI rights in the World (great work)

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), of which Kentucky Equality Federation is a paying, voting member, have just released the 2008 LGBTI Rights in the World Report.

• 7 countries continue to executed homosexuals


• 76 countries imprison them for life.

Click here to view a full sized map.

This map is shocking!

ILGA NOTES ABOUT THE UNITED STATES: The federal government of the United States is the centralized United States governmental body established by the Constitution (called Federal Government, or Federal State). In addition, the powers of the federal government as a whole are limited by the Constitution, which leaves a great deal of authority to the individual sovereign states. According to the United States Supreme Court, the authority of the federal government is restricted to the items in the U.S. Constitution; the authority of the several sovereign states is however, limitless.

The state governments have the greatest influence over most Americans' daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution, government, and code of laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between individual states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education.

The several states and the federal state share sovereignty, in that an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of their state of domicile.

Territories of the United States are not considered states, and lack the authority of states. This includes American Samoa, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Federated States of Micronesia, Territory of Guam, Midway Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.