Washington, DC – Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement urging the United Nations General Assembly to vote for the U.S. amendment restoring reference to sexual orientation:

“The United Nations General Assembly has an important opportunity to support the restoration of a reference to sexual orientation to the resolution on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions. Members of the General Assembly should vote for the U.S. amendment restoring reference to sexual orientation, which has been included in previous versions of this resolution for nearly a decade.

“This is not a theoretical question – this is a real issue involving real people. The Secretary General has eloquently defended the case that human rights are indeed universal and that the international community has an obligation to speak out when individuals are persecuted because of their sexual orientation. This is the right time for the world’s nations to do just that.”