UN General Assembly Eliminates Reference to "Sexual Orientation," Gender Identity
December 21, 2009
LifeSite News
by James Tillman
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09122102.htmlLast Friday the United Nations General Assembly voted to delete language from a proposed resolution referencing a document claiming that two new anti-discrimination categories exist: one based on "sexual orientation" and the other on "gender identity."
<snip>
The deleted reference was to General Comment 20 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The ICESCR was adopted by the UN on December 16, 1966, and declares that states that are part of the agreement will "undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, color, sex, language, religion ... or other status."
General Comment 20 states that the phrase "other status" includes "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." This means, according to the Comment, that members of the ICESCR "must ... adopt measures, which should include legislation, to ensure that individuals and entities in the private sphere do not discriminate on prohibited grounds."
Neither "sexual orientation" nor "gender identity" have previously been included in the established list of non-discrimination categories.
(NB: LifeSite is LGBT unfriendly)
