IV
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 259
Expressing the concern of Congress regarding human rights violations against
lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals around the world.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 2000
Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. BALWIN, Mr. CAMPBELL,
Mr. CONDIT, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FORBES,
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. KOLBE, Ms. LEE,
Ms. LOFGREN, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. NADLER, Ms.
PELOSI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WEINER,
Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. KUCINICH, and Mr. PASTOR) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Inter-
national Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the concern of Congress regarding human rights
violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and
transgendered individuals around the world.
Whereas treaties, conventions, and declarations to which the
United States are a party address government obligations
to combat human rights violations, and the overall goals
and standards of these treaties, conventions, and declara-
tions in promoting human rights of all individuals have
been found to be consistent with, and in support of, the
aspirations of the United States at home and globally, as
•HCON 259 IH
well as consistent with the Constitution of the United
States;
Whereas articles 3 and 5 of the 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, articles 6 and 7 of the 1966 Inter-
national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the
1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhu-
man or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, guarantee
all individuals the right to life, liberty, and security of
person, and guarantee that no one shall be subjected to
torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
punishment;
Whereas the fundamental human right not to be arbitrarily
deprived of life is violated when those convicted of homo-
sexual acts in Afghanistan are sentenced to be executed
and are crushed by having walls toppled over them, and
there remain a number of other countries around the
world that call for the possible execution of those con-
victed of homosexual acts, including Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, Kuwait, Mauritania, and Iran;
Whereas the fundamental right not to be subjected to torture
or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment is vio-
lated 
when 
gay 
men, 
lesbians, 
bisexuals 
and
transgendered individuals are subjected to severe beatings
while in police custody in Turkey and Albania, and indi-
viduals in these groups are also routinely the victims of
human rights abuses, such as extortion, entrapment,
physical assaults, and rape, committed by the police in
Mexico, Argentina, and Russia, among other countries;
Whereas a number of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and
transgendered individuals are targeted and tortured or
killed by paramilitary groups in Colombia and El Sal-
•HCON 259 IH
vador, which operate in collusion with the military, police,
and other government officials;
Whereas articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and articles 2, 14, and 26 of the Inter-
national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee
all individuals freedom from arbitrary discrimination and
equal protection before the law;
Whereas in many countries arbitrary detention or cruel, inhu-
man, or degrading treatment or conditions in detention
directly result from the application of penal laws crim-
inalizing same sex behavior between consenting adults,
such as a 5-year sentence for private same sex behavior
between consenting adults in Romania, and some of those
individuals who have been convicted in Romania report
torture, including rape, in prison, and all are unable to
seek redress for abuses in detention;
Whereas in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia the sentence for same
sex behavior between consenting adults includes ‘‘flog-
ging’’ and in Singapore and Uganda the sentence for
same sex behavior between consenting adults can extend
to life in prison;
Whereas many governments, on the basis of vague laws, may
target and persecute lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and
transgendered individuals: in the People’s Republic of
China individuals in these groups are imprisoned under
laws against ‘‘hooliganism’’, in Argentina, individuals in
these groups are imprisoned under the laws against ‘‘va-
grants and crooks’’, and the vagueness of these laws
makes it difficult to monitor governmental persecution;
Whereas articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and articles 19 and 22 of the Inter-
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national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee
all individuals freedom of expression and freedom of asso-
ciation;
Whereas the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and
association are violated when governments deny the right
of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered indi-
viduals to form organizations or advocate for rights, such
as in Zimbabwe where members of Gays and Lesbians of
Zimbabwe (GALZ) have been threatened and brutally as-
saulted;
Whereas in some countries agents of the government are di-
recting or are complicitous in abuses committed on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and inves-
tigations and prosecution of those agents for violations
often do not occur;
Whereas due to failure by governments to investigate and
prosecute human rights violations based on sexual ori-
entation and gender identity, private individuals feel en-
couraged to violently attack lesbians, gay men, bisexuals,
and transgendered individuals with impunity, contrib-
uting to the atmosphere of fear and intimidation;
Whereas lesbians and bisexual women who suffer human
rights violations are often abused because of their sexual
orientation while their gender often incites, compounds,
and aggravates this abuse, and, moreover, since their
gender is not recognized as a factor, their abuse often
goes unrecorded;
Whereas violations of internationally recognized human rights
norms are to be considered crimes regardless of the sta-
tus of the victims and are to be punished without dis-
crimination;
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Whereas fundamental access to legal protection from viola-
tions of internationally recognized human rights norms is
often unavailable to the victims;
Whereas lesbians and bisexual women face additional obsta-
cles in these countries when seeking assistance from po-
lice, judges, and other officials due to pervasive gender
bias;
Whereas the preceding clauses constitute only a few examples
of the violations suffered by lesbians, gay men, bisexuals
and transgendered individuals, the full range and extent
of such violations are not known because governments
create an atmosphere of immunity for those perpetrating
such human rights violations and prevent victims from
seeking effective protection and just redress and thus
their suffering remains undocumented and unremedied;
and
Whereas many nongovernmental human rights organizations,
including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission, as well as the United States Department of
State and the United Nations, have documented, and are
continuing to document, the ongoing violations of the
human rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and
transgendered individuals: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress—
(1) condemns all violations of internationally
recognized human rights norms based on the real or
perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of an
individual, and commends nongovernmental human
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rights organizations, including Amnesty Inter-
national, Human Rights Watch, and the Inter-
national Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commis-
sion, as well as the United States Department of
State and the United Nations, for documenting the
ongoing abuse of human rights on the basis of sex-
ual orientation and gender identity; and
(2)(A) recognizes that human rights violations
abroad based on sexual orientation and gender iden-
tity should be equally punished without discrimina-
tion and equally classified as crimes, regardless of
the status of the victims and that such violations
should be given the same consideration and concern
as human rights violations based on other grounds
in the formulation of policies to protect and promote
human rights globally; and
(B) further recognizes that the protection of
sexual orientation and gender identity is not a spe-
cial category of human rights, but it is fully embed-
ded in the overall human rights norms defined in
international conventions.
Æ