S.F. celebrates United Nations’ 70th anniversary

The convergence of the anniversary of that world-changing Charter and Friday’s landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage in every state was not lost on those who addressed the visitors:

[...] hundreds of visitors — including Malala Yousafzai, 17, of Pakistan, who in 2012 was shot in the head by Taliban terrorists who didn’t like her advocacy for girls’ education — packed into the glamorous City Hall rotunda to hear the speakers.

In addition to receiving the key to the city from Lee, Ban received a medal from the Harvey Milk Foundation for his work pushing the United Nations to fight the criminalization of homosexuality and gender differences around the world.

Millions of people in every corner of the world are forced to live in hiding, in fear of brutal violence, discrimination, even arrest and imprisonment, just because of who they are, or who they love.

In 2013, Ban founded the United Nations’ Free and Equal campaign, which uses videos and other means to send positive stories of same-sex couples around the world.

Last summer, over the objections of Russia and like-minded nations, Ban also changed U.N. regulations to recognize all married employees, even if their home countries disallow same-sex marriage.

“When the time comes to look back on my tenure, I will feel enormous pride in the fact that I have been the first U.N. secretary-general to push hard for equal rights and respect for LGBT people around the world,” he told the gathering.

At the 40th, in 1985, tensions boiled over when the Soviet Union’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Vsevolod Oleandrov, said the United States’ support of Israel was partly to blame for the numerous kidnapping and killings of hostages in Lebanon.

Some demonstrated for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, then on Pennsylvania’s Death Row and now serving a life sentence for killing a police officer in 1981.

A decade ago, at the 60th, the George W. Bush administration’s antipathy toward the United Nations dominated much of the conversation, as two keynote speakers attacked the president for abandoning the tradition of White House cooperation with the United Nations.