UN chief dismisses countries critical of LGBT stamp
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| English: Ban Ki-moon 日本語: 潘基文 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seemingly ignored and eventually dismissed
concerns about the UN promoting homosexuality through explicit UN postage
stamps, signaling that the stamps will not be withdrawn as some member states
have demanded.
Earlier
this month countries stood by helplessly as UN bureaucrats presented a series
of UN postage stamps that depict homosexuality, transsexualism, and homosexual
“parenting” at UN headquarters to great fanfare and expense in an eccentric ceremony featuring
an all male 33 member strong gay chorus singing love songs and show tunes
against a backdrop of naked dancers and Greek gods.
Delegations
of at least 86 countries tried to prevent the release of the stamps on the eve
of the event. Letters objecting to the stamps were sent to Ban Ki-moon on
February 3 and remained unanswered for two weeks.
Predictably
the Secretary General, a vociferous proponent of social acceptance of
homosexuality, denied any accusations of wrongdoing and overreach, and called
the roll-out of the stamps “in line with the mandate” of the UN Postal
Administration.
The
Secretary General did not personally respond to the objections, using a
subordinate instead, a decision that may be interpreted as condescension and
disrespect to the ambassadors who sent the letters.
Yukio
Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management, sent a letter to the
ambassadors of Belarus, Egypt, and Qatar, representing 24 member states of the
Group of Friends of the Family. The ambassadors visited Takasu alongside
representatives of the Organizations of Islamic Cooperation and the African
Group on February 9 after a week went by without an answer from Ban Ki-moon.
Takasu
justifies the stamps as commemorations of the Free and Equal campaign of the UN
bureaucracy, which promotes sodomy and sex change operations as human rights,
and is described in the letter as a “public education campaign to combat
homophobia and transphobia.”
The
mandate of the UN Postal Administration is to produce stamps that promote the
work of the UN organization and therefore, according to the letter, the event
was in “full compliance” with UN regulations and administrative instructions.
There
is a precedent for a UN stamp design already approved by the UN agency for science
and education being rejected within 48 hours following political objections from
UN member states.
But
the letter dismisses the possibility of withdrawing the LGBT stamps, even
though it concedes the stamps may be inappropriate.
“While
it would not be possible to withdraw the stamps, in view of the seriousness of
your concerns, we are taking this opportunity to review the internal procedures
governing the issue of United Nations stamps,” the letter concludes.
The
confrontation over the social acceptance of homosexuality and the establishment
of special protections for individuals who identify as LGBT is not limited to
UN headquarters.
In
recent years a growing number of countries has prohibited “homosexual
propaganda” that equates homosexual relations to marriage as well as the very
possibility of marriage between persons of the same sex, including in Europe.
In the past two weeks in Indonesia,Malaysia,
and Singapore there
have been strong calls for the UN and others to cease promoting homosexuality.
Despite
these tensions expanding globally, the UN Secretary General has vowed to
continue to promote the social acceptance of homosexuality. Seventy-six countries
prohibit sodomy explicitly in their laws, and no UN treaty includes LGBT rights
or protects homosexual conduct explicitly or implicitly.
Reprinted
with permission from C-Fam.
