At UN, Trump admin sides with repressive regimes that execute gay people

Under Donald Trump’s tenure, the United States has faced multiple embarrassments at the United Nations, including a warning from a U.N. committee on racial discrimination and rebukes from high-ranking international officials over his treatment of the free press.

Tuesday, Trump officials once again humiliated the United States on the global stage, this time in truly mortifying fashion during a vote of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

At issue was a resolution condemning “discriminatory” use of the death penalty. The resolution singled out laws which impose execution for “apostasy, blasphemy, adultery, and consensual same-sex relations.”

Inexplicably, and with no explanation from Trump officials, the U.S. voted against the resolution.

The U.S. joined 13 countries  — many with their own violent, state-sanctioned repression of LGBTQ citizens — which voted against the proposal, including Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

For good measure, the U.S. also defeated two amendments opposing the use of “experimental drugs” in executions — something multiple U.S. states have done, with horrific consequences.

Former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who together with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped the U.N. adopt a sweeping declaration of LGBTQ rights in 2011, condemned the U.S. vote:

Shame on US! I was proud to lead U.S. efforts at UN to protect LGBTQ people, back in the day when America stood for human rights for all 🇺🇸 https://t.co/3Y403bP7Wh

— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) October 3, 2017

Since running a campaign in which he promised to protect gay rights, Trump has been singularly dismantling every LGBTQ civil rights protection he can get his hands on at home, from excluding them from the military to removing them from federal anti-discrimination laws.

And Trump has never comported himself well on the world stage, whether publicly threatening nuclear war, falsely telling NATO leaders they owe him money, or exiting a global climate agreement the entire world spent years working on.

His administration’s horrifying refusal to condemn the use of the death penalty against LGBTQ citizens living under dangerous regimes adds grievous injury to the litany of insults.