The United Nations Human Rights Council has approved a resolution that condemns the death penalty for same-sex relations, but the United States joined countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iraq in opposing the resolution.

The resolution condemned the use of the death penalty “as a as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations…”

Thankfully the resolution still passed (27-13) with the help of countries like Belgium, Benin, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, and Switzerland who introduced the long-overdue resolution.

The resolution condemns “the imposition of the death penalty as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations” and expresses “serious concern that the application of the death penalty for adultery is disproportionately imposed on women.” It also notes “poor and economically vulnerable persons and foreign nationals are disproportionately subjected to the death penalty, that laws carrying the death penalty are used against persons exercising their rights to freedom of expression, thought, conscience, religion, and peaceful assembly and association, and that persons belonging to religious or ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented among those sentenced to the death penalty.”

“It is unconscionable to think that there are hundreds of millions of people living in states where somebody may be executed simply because of whom they love” said ILGA Executive Director Renato Sabbadini in a press release. “This is a monumental moment where the international community has publicly highlighted that these horrific laws simply must end.”

So why did the United States vote against the resolution?

Most likely because the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world that still has the death penalty. A vote against this resolution is a vote for the death penalty, not necessarily against same-sex relations.