EXCLUSIVE REPORT: 90 Countries Back “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” at the United Nations

By | November 26, 2021

NEW YORK, November 26 (C-Fam) For the first time, the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution that includes the terms “sexual orientation and gender identity,” though not without objections.

For over two decades, countries that promote the LGBT agenda have avoided putting the terms “sexual orientation and gender identity” in UN resolutions for fear that traditional countries would vote against them. This is because diplomats always strive for resolutions to be adopted unanimously.

Now, the long-standing stalemate in UN negotiations broke in favor of the LGBT agenda, opening the door for LGBT issues in many other UN resolutions.

The controversial phrase was adopted unanimously in a United States-sponsored resolution on free and fair elections Thursday last week. No country was willing to vote against the resolution because of pressure from the Biden administration and fear of being labeled anti-democratic.

Fifty-eight countries voted to remove the phrase through an amendment on the floor of the General Assembly. Ninety countries voted to keep the controversial terms. But in a surprising development, all fifty-eight countries who voted against the controversial terms ultimately decided to support the resolution after failing to amend it. All they could do in the end is accuse the United States and the European Union of bullying and intimidation.

Early in the day, there were rumors that the Nigerian delegation would vote against the entire resolution if the amendment failed, stalling negotiations. The adoption of the resolution was moved from the morning to the afternoon without explanation. By late afternoon Nigeria changed direction and did not call for a vote against the resolution.

Negotiation insiders speculate that Nigeria changed position because of direct pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari from U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who was visiting Nigeria the same day.

Many countries from Africa surprisingly abstained from the vote altogether, including Kenya, Chad, Burkina Faso, Benin, Burundi, and Rwanda. Delegates told the Friday Fax that the U.S. was lobbying countries for support.

“No society has a right to impose its values on others,” said the Nigerian delegate who introduced the amendment to remove the controversial terms on behalf of 17 nations. He said the terms “had no legal foundation in international human rights law” and called their inclusion in the resolution an “attempt to smuggle controversial language in an otherwise good resolution.”

Several delegates similarly accused the United States of failing to respect their “religious and cultural values.”

The Ambassador of Guatemala to the United Nations withdrew his country’s co-sponsorship of the resolution over the inclusion of the terms because they went against “the anthropological foundations on which our legal system is based.”

U.S. delegates were coy about the inclusion of the controversial terms in the resolution. They spoke of “marginalized and underrepresented” populations in their statements and never once mentioned “sexual orientation and gender identity” or LGBT issues.

A heated exchange ensued when delegates from Australia, the United States, and the European Union acted surprised by the amendment to remove the phrase. They claimed the 17 nations who proposed the amendment had not made their objections known sooner during the negotiations. They also accused the nations proposing the amendments of being hateful.

“A vote for the amendment is a vote for discrimination,” the Australian delegate dramatically said.

Sponsors of the amendments reacted quickly to what they perceived as chicanery. They insisted that they did not condone discrimination against anyone but simply did not agree to the use of the terms. They also accused Western delegates of lying and covering up for their own failure to engage in negotiations in good faith.

“These amendments were presented more than once and the rationale was presented and discussed for long hours,” said the delegate of Egypt. He said the terms were not appropriate in a UN resolution “because of their “fluidity” and “subjective character.”

“I find it to be frustrating, to say the least, that the same delegations that have just now called for a vote on a resolution calling for full access to COVID vaccines for all, and abstained, now come and lecture us on what inclusivity is,” the representative of Algeria said referring to a vote that had taken place only minutes before.

“I question, was it worth to undermine the consensus?” she asked tersely, after the resolution was adopted. “Was it worth it to ignore almost sixty delegations’ position? Was it worth to lose the co-sponsorship of so many delegations only to include controversial concepts?” she continued.

The European Union praised the Americans for their “excellent work.”

The delegate of the Netherlands, who said he was speaking “on a personal note,” exclaimed, “What a positive way to end this third committee!”

***The 17 nations who introduced the amendment to remove the language on sexual orientation and gender identity are Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen.

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