Obama Speaks Out For LGBT Rights In Kenya
"The idea that they are gonna be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop."
President
Barack Obama spoke out forcefully in favor of LGBT rights during a
press conference with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi on Saturday, saying that the idea that a "law-abiding citizen" could be treated differently under the law was simply wrong.
Some African leaders had warned Obama not to raise the issue of LGBT rights on the trip. Being gay is illegal in Kenya.
Asked about the status of LGBT Kenyans on Saturday, Obama did not hesitate to speak out in favor of equality.
"I
believe in the principle of treating people equally under the law, and
that they are deserving of equal protection under the law and that the
state should not discriminate against people based on their sexual
orientation," Obama said.
"I'm
unequivocal on this," he continued. "If somebody is a law-abiding
citizen who is going about their business and working in a job and
obeying the traffic signs and doing all the other things that all
citizens are supposed to do, and not harming anybody, the idea that they
are gonna be treated differently or abused because of who they love is
wrong, full stop.
Obama also warned that when one group is denied equal rights by a government, others can be affected as well.
"When
a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those
habits can spread. And as an African-American in the United States, I am
painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently
under the law," Obama said. "All sorts of rationalizations that were
provided by the power structure for decades in the United States for
segregation and Jim Crow and slavery and they were wrong."
Kenyatta
seemed unmoved by Obama's comments, saying that LGBT equality was not a
priority for most Kenyans right now and that it was not a value shared
with the United States.
"There
are some things that we must admit we don't share. Our culture, our
societies don't accept. So it's very difficult for us to be able to
impose that which they themselves do not accept," Kenyatta said. "This
is why I repeatedly say that for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights
is really a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas that are
day-to-day living for our people."
Among those issues, Kenyatta said, are including women in the economy, health, infrastructure and entrepreneurship.
"Maybe once we overcome some of these challenges, we can begin to look at new ones," Kenyatta said.
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