No, Nikki Haley Didn’t Vote For Gay People To Get The Death Penalty, And I Can’t Believe This Requires Explanation.

People were freaking out on the internet this week because of news that Nikki Haley, representing the US at the United Nations, voted against condemning the death penalty as a punishment for gay people.

And I’m not just talking about liberal people, y’all.  Conservatives were tweeting at us too – outraged that they could no longer trust Nikki Haley after she voted with Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE on this matter.

The problem?  That’s not what the vote was about. 

Of course, that didn’t stop liberal sites from posting ridiculous articles about how completely unacceptable Haley’s vote was.  All the usual suspects – Salon, Think Progress, etc. – wrote hysterical headlines like these:

The US Voted Against Banning The Death Penalty For Gay People

US Joins Saudi’s 2 Vote Against UN Resolution Opposing Death for Same Sex Relations

United States Rejects UN Resolution Condemning Use Of Death Penalty For LGBTQ People

You get the idea.

The vote, however, as Ambassador Haley and the State Department and the White House all explained, was on condemning the death penalty ALTOGETHER, in any circumstance or situation, and that’s not something the United States was going to say yes to.

“The headlines and much of the reporting that has come out of that has been misleading,” State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert clarified Tuesday, “we voted against that resolution because of broader concerns with the resolution’s approach in condemning the death penalty in all circumstances, and it called for the abolition of the death penalty altogether.”

 

“We had hoped for a balanced and inclusive resolution that would better reflect the positions of states that continue to apply the death penalty lawfully, as the United States does,” she added. “The United States unequivocally condemns the application of the death penalty for conduct such as homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery, and apostasy. We do not consider such conduct appropriate for criminalization.”

The worst part is that the US HAD made the reasons for their no vote clear this past Friday, and the media mostly ignored it, because it’s way more fun to run with #fakenews and get people fired up for no particular reason.

A White House Spokesperson told the Washington Blade that “the United States unequivocally condemns the application of the death penalty for homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery and apostasy. As in years past, we voted against this resolution because of broader concerns with the resolution’s approach to condemning the death penalty in all circumstances.”

Note the “years past” part?  That’s because this vote was the same one taken when Obama was president, and literally no one kicked up a fuss over it then.

But Trump is president!  So America is now totally evil and hates gays, or something.  Never mind that Trump is probably the most gay-friendly president in the history of ever.  #peskyfacts.

Nikki Haley took to Twitter to try to calm down the ridiculous overreaction to the vote:

Fact: There was NO vote by USUN that supported the death penalty for gay people. We have always fought for justice for the LGBT community.

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) October 4, 2017

Fact: The vote that took place in Geneva is the same US vote that took place under the Obama admin. It was not a vote against LGBT #Fact

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) October 4, 2017

But the explanation didn’t matter. People refuse to accept that the US continues to have states rights, and several states continue to employ the death penalty, and therefore the United States cannot unequivocally condemn the practice.

The Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for LGBT rights, said this past Tuesday that Nikki Haley had “failed the LGBT community” by “not standing up against the barbaric use of the death penalty to punish individuals in same-sex relationships.”  After Haley’s, the state department’s, and the White House’s explanation of the vote, they simply said, “OH YEAH?  Well, we’re still totes concerned about this administration’s treatment of gays so THERE.”

Ok, so maybe that’s not a direct quote.  That’s me paraphrasing this:

HRC welcomes this clarification but continues to be concerned about the Trump/Pence administration’s engagement on the human rights of LGBTQ people abroad. It is disturbing that leadership in this administration did not discuss this position in their original explanation for the “no” vote.