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<p>On behalf of forty U.S.-based organizations advocating for human rights, including the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, we write to express deep disappointment at the United States’ actions this week in the Non-Governmental Organization Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). </p>

<p>
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice <br />
Secretary of State <br />
U.S. Department of State <br />
2201 C Street NW <br />
Washington, D.C. 20520 <br />
Dear Secretary Rice, <br />On behalf of forty U.S.-based organizations advocating for human rights, including the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, we write to express deep disappointment at the United States’ actions this week in the Non-Governmental Organization Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). </p><p>
As you may be aware, both the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), and the Danish national gay and lesbian organization Landsforeningen for Bøsser og Lesbiske had applied for consultative status with the ECOSOC. The United States abstained on a virtually unprecedented motion to deny these organizations a fair hearing on their application. Still more disturbingly, the United States supported a separate motion to summarily dismiss their applications. The motion to dismiss passed by a vote of 10 to 5 with three abstentions. <br />
Monday’s vote represents a reversal of U.S. policy. When the ECOSOC voted on ILGA's previous application for consultative status in 2002, the United States joined sixteen other nations in supporting ILGA’s application for consultative status. <br />
We hope you will provide the reasons for this reversal. Is it now the policy of the U.S. government to oppose consultative status for all organizations working to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people? <br />
As the State Department’s own reporting demonstrates, severe human rights violations based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression take place in many countries around the world. Arbitrary arrest, torture, and extrajudicial killing are common. We are grateful for the State Department’s effort to include these incidents in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. We find it incomprehensible that the U.S. government would recognize these human rights abuses—while denying the people subject to them the right to make their case, alongside other respected human rights organizations, before the U.N. It is, moreover, widely recognized that persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression drives populations vulnerable to HIV/AIDS underground, and contributes substantially to the spread of HIV/AIDS. <br />
As long as human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people occur, it is vital that non-governmental organizations working on their behalf are given a place and voice at the United Nations. Applications of three other such organizations are pending before the ECOSOC: the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe), Coalition Gaie et Lesbienne du Québec (CGLQ) from Canada, and Lesben- und Schwulenverband in Deutschland (LSVD) from Germany. We urge you to support these applications. In this week’s vote, the U.S. ranged itself on the side of severely repressive governments. As U.S.-based organizations working in the fields of human rights and sexual rights, we are dismayed—and we expect better. <br />
Please reply to Scott Long, Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program, Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York, NY 10018-3299 (tel: 212-216-1297). <br />Sincerely, </p>
<ul>

<li>Advocates for Youth </li>

<li>Al-Fatiha Foundation for LGBT Muslims </li>

<li>Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School </li>

<li>Amnesty International USA </li>

<li>Catholics for a Free Choice </li>

<li>Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) </li>

<li>Center for Women’s Global Leadership </li>

<li>Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association (COLEGA) </li>

<li>Congregation Beth Simchat Torah </li>

<li>Equality Now	 </li>

<li>Family Care International </li>

<li>Gay &amp; Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation </li>

<li>Gay Men’s Health Crisis </li>

<li>Global Rights </li>

<li>Human Rights Campaign </li>

<li>Human Rights Watch </li>

<li>Immigration Equality </li>

<li>International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission </li>

<li>International Women’s Human Rights Clinic, City University of New York School of Law </li>

<li>Ipas </li>

<li>Jan Hus Church </li>

<li>Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund </li>

<li>Latino Commission on AIDS </li>

<li>L.A. Gay &amp; Lesbian Center </li>

<li>Legal Momentum </li>

<li>Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &amp; Transgender Community Center (New York City) </li>

<li>MADRE </li>

<li>Mano a Mano </li>

<li>Metropolitan Community Churches </li>

<li>National Black Justice Coalition </li>

<li>National Center for Transgender Equality </li>

<li>National Coalition Building Institute Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Caucus </li>

<li>National Gay and Lesbian Task Force </li>

<li>National Center for Lesbian Rights </li>

<li>New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition </li>

<li>Open Society Institute </li>

<li>Queer Progressive Agenda </li>

<li>Queers for Economic Justice </li>

<li>Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. </li>

<li>Women's Environment and Development Organization </li>

</ul>
<p>
Cc: 	The Honorable John Bolton, United Nations Ambassador for the United States <br />
The Honorable Richard G. Lugar, Chair, United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee <br />
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Ranking Member, United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee <br />
The Honorable Henry J. Hyde, Chair, United States House of Representatives International Relations Committee <br />
The Honorable Tom Lantos, Ranking Member, United States House of Representatives International Relations Committee <br />
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Chair, United States Senate Appropriations Committee <br />
The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member, United States Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs <br />
The Honorable Frank Wolf, Chair, United States House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce and Related Agencies <br />The Honorable Alan B. Mollohan, Ranking Member, United States House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce and Related Agencies </p>

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