More petty narrow-minded nastiness disguised as “morality” because god-based – the OIC keeps 11 LGBT groups out of a UN meeting on ending AIDS.

Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member General Assembly on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to object to the participation of the 11 groups. It did not give a reason in the letter, which Reuters saw.

The OIC is a horrible organization, and should have no clout at the UN.

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, wrote to General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft and said the groups appeared to have been blocked for involvement in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy.

“Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” Ms Power wrote.

UN officials said the European Union and Canada also wrote to Lykketoft to protest the objections by the OIC group, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda.

And Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nigeria.

In February, the 54-member African Group, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member Group of Friends of the Family led by Belarus, Egypt and Qatar protested six new UN stamps promoting LGBT equality.

The Group of Friends of the Family promotes the traditional family. It launched a photo exhibit, “Uniting Nations for a Family Friendly World,” at the UN on Tuesday, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

Families are fine, and people should be free to form whatever kinds of families they want to (consistent with the rights of all concerned).