The Obama administration has said that the U.S. will fully support a declaration put forward by France to internationally decriminalize homosexuality, making them the last Western nation to do so, officials say. On December 19, 2008, then-President George W. Bush received heavy criticism for refusing to sign when the legislation initially came before the UN.

On Tuesday, U.S. government officials said that they had made their strong will to support to bill clear to France, the nation which initially proposed it. Until now, all 27 of the European Union’s member nations in addition to Australia, Japan, and Mexico were included in the only 66 of 192 UN support lobby. The remaining 70 refused to sign the declaration, and many have claimed that such a move could open up a Pandora’s box of consequences; 50 of the 70 have laws in place criminalizing homosexuality, with some punishing homosexual acts by execution.

The United States, albeit a very recent move, has expressed concerns over the level and nature of discrimination that many homosexuals the world over are subject to on a daily basis: “violence and human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual individuals” and is also “troubled by the criminalization of sexual orientation in many countries.” This is a dramatic policy change from that of the Bush administration, which led to condemnations by Gay Rights Advocates. When it was learned that President Bush had refused to sign, Paula Ettelbrick of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission expressed outrage, calling the stance “appalling”.

“In the words of the United States Supreme Court, the right to be free from criminalization on the basis of sexual orientation ‘has been accepted as an integral part of human freedom’,” — U.S. official

The justification by the Bush administration was that agreeing to such a declaration would be infringing on the jurisdiction of individual states, who, as Proposition 8’s passing in California has shown, may take a very different stance to the federal government. With the law as it stands, some states allow refusal of employment, residence, and so on based on sexual orientation; the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy of the U.S. military has imposed similar restrictions, leading to over 12,000 troops being discharged in the 16 fiscal years the policy has been in place.

The U.S. CODE: Title 10,654, which can be found in full here, describes the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as follows:

(b) Policy.— A member of the armed forces shall be separated from the armed forces under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense if one or more of the following findings is made and approved in accordance with procedures set forth in such regulations:
(1) That the member has engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or acts unless there are further findings, made and approved in accordance with procedures set forth in such regulations, that the member has demonstrated that—
(A) such conduct is a departure from the member’s usual and customary behavior;
(B) such conduct, under all the circumstances, is unlikely to recur;
(C) such conduct was not accomplished by use of force, coercion, or intimidation;
(D) under the particular circumstances of the case, the member’s continued presence in the armed forces is consistent with the interests of the armed forces in proper discipline, good order, and morale; and
(E) the member does not have a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts.

The “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy is scheduled to be repealed by the Obama administration, which cites the financial implications from dishcharging such a high level of already-trained soldiers. According to professors at West Point U.S. Military Academy, the cost of training, recruitment, and other expenses lost through this policy is around $363 million. Because of the nature of the decision, the bureaucratic process associated with it may mean its proposal would have to wait until 2010, Obama aides have said.

Some of the strongest opposition has come from The Vatican, not surprisingly, and certain Islamic countries, who are worried that such a declaration would be the first step in normalizing “deplorable acts” such as incest, and pedophilia.

The document, initially proposed by France, is at this time nonbinding.

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