Being Gay 'Not Acceptable'

By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) -The statement from the newly appointed Libyan president of the United Nations General Assembly has rattled more than a few cages in the international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

 

 
Ali Abdussalam Treki
At a press conference immediately before the opening of the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, Ali Abdussalam Treki said in response to questions on several other topics declared that being gay is "not acceptable," and said that a UN resolution for a global decriminalization of homosexuality is a "very sensitive" matter.

"[T]hat matter is very sensitive, very touchy," Treki said. "As a Muslim, I am not in favor of it … it is not accepted by the majority of countries. My opinion is not in favor of this matter at all. I think it's not really acceptable by our religion, our tradition.

"It is not acceptable in the majority of the world. And there are some countries that allow that, thinking it is a kind of democracy … I think it is not," he added.

During last year's UN session, an approved resolution was controversial, with the U.S. against it, but since coming to office, President Barack Obama has reversed course and supported the resolution. As expected, Vatican officials registered their strongest opposition, denouncing it by suggesting that it might promote gay marriage.
Toni Reis

Originally sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the resolution met with concerted resistance from leaders of Arab countries, challenging the statement and condemning homosexuality. Although an anti-gay resolution failed, it garnered 60 signatures on the first day it was presented. An Arab supported coalition decried decriminalization of homosexuality because as they claim, it would lead to "the social normalization, and possibly the legitimization, of many deplorable acts including pedophilia."

It is against this backdrop of anti-gay sentiment that Treki's statements were made and to which Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian Lesbian, Gay and Trans Association (ABGLT) responded by sending him a letter, ABGLT - Letter to UN President.pdf. ABGLT was founded in 1995 and is a national network of 220 lesbian, gay, trans and other human rights organizations in Brazil, and according to Reis, it has the unqualified support of the Brazilian government.

In an interesting volte face and a measure of hypocrisy, since more damage was done to the LGBT cause by the formerly Republican-Right Wing-Religious-Conservative controlled government, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), ranking Republican House Foreign Affairs committee members lambasted Treki's comments.

"The anti-gay bigotry spewed by this Qaddafi shill demonstrates once again that the UN has been hijacked by advocates of hate and intolerance," she said.

Reis, in his letter, began by stating the ABGLT's mission statement and drawing attention to the cooperative nature and relationship with his country's government:

"We work in direct partnership with the Brazilian Government to combat homophobic discrimination and promote equal rights for our community, to such an extent that the Government recently launched its National Plan for the Promotion of LGBT Citizenship and Human Rights. Furthermore our condition as homosexuals is not an impediment to this partnership, nor are we subject to legislation that makes our sexual orientation or gender identity illegal."

Reis reminded Treki that it has been more than 60 years since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Libya is a signatory, and that he is "bitterly dismayed at your recent public statement" as published here

Quoting from the Declaration, Reis said, "Your statement is in manifest contempt of some of the most basic precepts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status… All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination…"