U.S. President Barack Obama has
reiterated his support for gay rights while visiting Kenya.
Obama is the first sitting U.S.
president to visit Kenya.
At a press conference Saturday, Obama
disagreed with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on his country's
record on gay rights.
“When you start treating people
differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but
because they are different, that's the path whereby freedoms begin to
erode,” Obama said during a joint press conference with Kenyatta in
Nairobi. “And bad things happen.”
Gay sex is illegal in Kenya. Some
African leaders have called on President Obama to keep his views on
the subject to himself.
“And when a government gets in a
habit of treating people differently, those habits can
spread,” Obama
added. “As an African-American, I am painfully aware of what
happens when people are treated differently under the law.”
Kenyatta, however, defended his
nation's laws, suggesting that they were rooted in tradition.
“The fact of the matter is Kenya and
the U.S. share so many values: common love for democracy,
entrepreneurship, value for families – these are some things that
we share,” he said. “But there are some things that we must
admit we don't share. Our culture, our societies don't accept.”
“It is very difficult for us to be
able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept,”
Kenyatta added. “This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today
the gay rights issue is generally a non-issue. We want to focus on
other areas.”
Only problem is Mr. Kenyatta, your *non-issue* isn't afforded toward the gay citizens of your country.
If you want to be perceived as a modern country, then you need to behave as one, not like savages who would rather destroy anything outside their false, religious piety.
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