Obama: ‘I’m Proud to Return as the First U.S. President to Ever Visit Kenya’. President Obama and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta hold a joint press availability. Obama on Corruption in Africa: Look to Chicago To See How it Can Be Cleaned Up
President Obama Calls For Gay Rights in Africa, Compares It to Racism in U.S. Obama Likens Gay Rights in Africa to Discrimination He’s Felt as Black Man in U.S. Kenya President: Gay Rights ‘Not Really an Issue on the Foremost Mind of Kenyans’
Obama Calls For Equal Rights For Gays In Africa
The US President had been warned not to bring up the issue during his trip to Kenya, where gay sex is illegal.
The US President has called on African nations to treat gays and lesbians equally under the law.
Obama and Kenyan President Spar Over Gay Rights in Joint Speech
On his first presidential visit to Kenya, his father's birthplace, Barack Obama was asked about gay rights during a joint news conference with his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Obama likened the issue to the civil rights movement in the US, saying he is "painfully aware of the history when people are treated differently under the law."
"That's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode and bad things happen," Mr Obama said.
"When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread."
Gay sex is a crime in Kenya and is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
Mr Obama had been warned by prominent politicians not to bring up gay rights during his trip - the first to the country by a sitting US president.
In his response, Mr Kenyatta told reporters that while the US and Kenya do agree on a lot, there are certain things that some cultures just do not accept.
He added that gay rights "is not really an issue on the foremost mind of Kenyans. And that is a fact."
Enregistrer un commentaire
0Commentaires