Questionable acceptance

United Nations | In a murky vote process, UN accredits homosexual activist groups | Priya Abraham

From the confusion in the room, it was clear to Bilal Hayee, a UN delegate from Pakistan, that several countries did not know what they were voting for. He tried to re-start the vote, but failed. In the end, it meant that the UN late last month railroaded some nations into giving two international gay-rights groups lobbying access to its headquarters and agencies around the world, overturning previous decisions not to admit them.

Yvan Lapointe, director of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Quebec (CGLQ,), said he was "surprised and happy" with the unexpected acceptance and hoped to use the group's new status as a lobbying organization to improve gay rights in places like Egypt—a country that voted against them: "We'll not only be reaching out to homosexual activists in those countries, but we'll be asking our government why we're trading with them and others."