Washington D.C., Mar 20, 2009 / 02:56 am
The United States supports the U.N. Statement on “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity,” a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday. Critics of the statement, including the leader of the Holy See’s mission to the U.N., have expressed concern it is ill-defined and overbroad and could pressure states to recognize same-sex “marriage.”
Robert Wood, Acting Spokesman at the U.S. Department of State, declared U.S. government support for the statement, saying the government “is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support.”
He said the statement “condemns human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity wherever they occur.”
Calling the U.S. “an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world,” he said the U.S. will “continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people.”