Press

MEDIA CONTACT:
Inga Sarda-Sorensen
Director of Communications
(Office) 646.358.1463
(Cell) 202.641.5592
isorensen@theTaskForce.org

WASHINGTON, March 18 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds the Obama administration for signing the U.N. declaration calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality and condemning human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Advocates have tried for years to get the U.S. to endorse it, but the Bush administration had refused to do so.

Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“We applaud the Obama administration for endorsing the U.N. declaration calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality and condemning human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. People should not be persecuted and targeted as criminals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The U.S. has finally stepped up to help right this wrong. This is long past overdue and we are encouraged by the signal it sends that the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will now be considered human rights.”

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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. We do this by training activists, equipping state and local organizations with the skills needed to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.