WASHINGTON  – Gay rights groups are welcoming the decision by the Obama administration to call for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

The administration is formally endorsing a U.N. statement outlining that goal — a statement that President George W. Bush had refused to sign. When it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December, the United States was the only Western nation not to sign it.

A State Department spokesman says the U.S. is an “outspoken defender of human rights,” and that it will urge other countries to respect the rights “of all people.”

The Council for Global Equality, which promotes equal rights for gays, says the Obama administration’s position will be a “powerful rebuke” of the stand taken by the Bush White House.