84 countries have signed onto “Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” on Tuesday which calls for an end to violence, criminal sanctions and other human rights violations against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Why is this needed? Well 76 countries, including 19 countries in the Asia Pacific region, have criminal laws against male-to-male sex.
More importantly- Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE and Yemen [plus some parts of Nigeria and Somalia] – prescribe death as punishment.
The US, supported by President Obama has pushed for this statement as well.
I thought you might want to see the list of all countries in support of this resolution....they are:
Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the former-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vanautu and Venezuela.
As you can see we've support from the Middle East to the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
A vote on the resolution is expected by later this year.
