San Francisco Resolution Condemning the Taliban
Resolution introduced January. 25, 1999 at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors by
[gay] Board President Tom Ammiano...
Condemning the Taliban
WHEREAS, The Taliban, the current ruling faction of the government of Afghanistan, is
not recognized by the majority of nations except for four countries; and
WHEREAS, Under the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic Law, homosexuality is deemed a
capital offense and is punishable by toppling a brick wall up to 15 feet over those
convicted of sodomy and if the convicted survives, the sentence is commuted; and
WHEREAS, On February 25, 1998, three Afghan men, Fazalur Rehamn, Ahmand Shah and Abdul
Qahir, were convicted of sodomy and had a stone wall toppled over them by a battle tank;
and
WHEREAS, On March 22, 1998, Abdul Sami and Bismillah were similarly convicted and
suffered the same ordeal; and
WHEREAS, on January 15, 1999, Shuma Khan, also convicted of sodomy and punished,
survived the ordeal; and
WHEREAS, On all three occasions, the punishment was meted out in public, sometimes in
public stadiums, in order to terrorize its citizens; and
WHEREAS, The Taliban has imposed an oppressive system of gender discrimination against
women, banning girls from going to school, banning women from attending university,
prohibiting women from holding jobs, requiring women to be accompanied at all times in
public by a male member of their immediate families, requiring women to be covered from
head to toe and requiring windows of homes with women to be darkened ; and
WHEREAS, These attacks against gays and women are latest in a series of repressive
measures which are justified through religious rhetoric and aimed at circumscribing the
rights of its citizens; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco
condemns the Taliban, the ruling faction of the government of Afghanistan, for its
inhumane treatment of gays; and let it be
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors condemn inhumane and antiquated sodomy
laws as a violation of human rights of gay people; and let it be
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors condemn the gender discrimination of
women as violation of human rights and as an affront to civil society and government.
SUPERVISOR AMMIANO, KATZ, LENO
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