Aug 02, 2006  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

U.S. officials must do more to protect gay citizens from discrimination and abuse, according to a United Nations report.

In the report released July 28, the U.N. Human Rights Committee says the U.S. must undertake efforts to combat anti-gay job discrimination and hate crimes. The report “notes with concern” the absence of such protections.

Gay and human rights groups that have pushed for stronger pro-gay laws welcomed the findings.

“The challenge now is for human rights activists back home in the U.S. to use this as another tool — and additional leverage — to force the U.S. to do what it’s required to under U.S. law,” said Mark Bromley, spokesperson for the human rights group Global Rights.

“We will certainly be asking for meetings with the U.S. government to discuss this finding, and point out how embarrassing it is for an international human rights body to find such serious violations here in the U.S.”

The findings came days after a U.S. delegation appeared last month in Geneva to defend the country’s record on gay rights and other issues.

During that appearance, U.S. officials noted, “There is always more work to be done to safeguard human rights,” and reiterated their commitment to equal rights.

Justice Department spokesperson Wan Kim told the U.N. Human Rights Committee that the U.S. maintains a “profound and lasting commitment to equality.”

But Bromley, who attended the committee hearing in Geneva, said the U.N. disagreed.

“I think the Human Rights Committee is pointing out the obvious gaps in human rights protections in the U.S,” he said, “and is giving human rights and LGBT activists in the U.S. an opportunity to really take the U.S. government to task for its failure to protect human rights.”

U.S. ‘disappointed’ by report

Bromley said the U.N. report is notable both for its renewed support of gay Americans, and its tone.

“It was quite strong,” he said, “especially for a diplomatic document.”

The report says the U.S. “should acknowledge its legal obligation” to ensure all people have “equality before the law and equal protection of the law, without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Bromley said although the U.N. report focused on war-related issues, like the handling of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, it represented a victory for gay rights groups.

“Given the range of other issues [the U.N. Human Rights Committee members] were covering,” he said, “to have a really strong paragraph that covers violence, employment discrimination, and the lack of federal protections was, in our view, a significant finding by the committee.”

But a statement from the U.S. delegation that traveled to Geneva challenged the U.N. report’s findings.

“On some fundamental matters we do not agree with the committee,” it says, “and are disappointed with the committee’s finding on these matters.”

The statement also notes some of the protections the report seeks, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, have been proposed.

“The committee has made recommendations that address matters that are under active consideration by … state and federal agencies,” it says. “We are an open society, accustomed to robust public policy debate, and will be happy to examine the committee’s views closely and draw any appropriate conclusions from them.”

‘Major gaps’ in laws

The U.N. report is the second document in recent weeks to call for enhanced protections of gay Americans.

In a report released July 17, Global Rights alleges several “major gaps” in existing protections.

The report — titled “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Human Rights in the United States” — was an unprecedented compilation of allegations from 11 organizations that work on gay rights issues.

It chides the U.S. for failing to enact any “standardized non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”

Also missing in 21 states and federal code are hate crime statutes that cover real or perceived sexual orientation.

“The failure of many states and the federal government to add sexual orientation to the categories of bias motivated hate crimes,” the report says, “creates the impression that those crimes are less serious than other bias motivated crimes.”

Bromley said the report, which was written for the U.N. Human Rights Committee, appeared to strongly influence the committee’s report.

The U.N. report says the U.S. “should ensure that federal and state law address sexual orientation-related violence in its hate crime legislation,” and “outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in its federal and state employment legislation.”