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Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 11:33:58 EDT From: Bob Summersgill <XE605C@gwuvm.gwu.edu> Subject: Senate on NAMBLA Senate demands U.N. end ties with NAMBLA By Jim Abrams (c) Jan. 26, 1994, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) _ U.S. contributions to the United Nations would be slashed sharply unless it cuts its ties with organizations that condone pedophilia, the Senate voted today. In an amendment to the State Department authorization bill, the Senate voted 99-0 to reduce U.S. contributions for international organizations by $119 million in each of the fiscal years 1994 and 1995 unless the president certifies the U.N. has cut off links with such groups. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., submitted the amendment, citing a decision last summer by the U.N. Economic and Social Council to grant consultative status to the Brussels-based International Lesbian and Gay Association. Helms noted that one member of the association is the ``notorious'' North American Man Boy Love Association, a group founded in Boston in 1978 to promote consensual relations between men and boys. ``I never fathomed that the day would come when the United Nations would officially condone the sexual molestation of children,'' Helms said on the Senate floor Tuesday. Helms said the United States joined 21 other nations in voting to give consultative status to the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Four nations voted against it and 17 abstained. The State Department, Helms said, was not aware that the North American Man Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA, was a member of ILGA. ``They are horribly embarrassed about this episode, and they should be.'' Gregory J. King, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, said his group, the largest lesbian and gay rights group in the United States, had no objection to the Helms amendment. ``NAMBLA is not a gay organization,'' King said, noting that his group refuses to join ILGA as long as NAMBLA is a member. He said the Belgian organization is now going through a process of expelling NAMBLA. A final vote on the authorization bill, which approves more than $12 billion for the State Department and related agencies in 1994 and 1995, is expected in several days. The House passed its version of the bill last summer. - Bob Summersgill | Xq28 -- Thanks Mom! XE605C @ GWUVM.GWU.EDU |