US President Barack Obama on Saturday called
for gay rights in Africa, comparing homophobia to
racial discrimination he had encountered in the
United States.
In a joint press conference after talks with Kenyan
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama also pushed a
tough message on Kenyan corruption, the civil
war in South Sudan, controversial elections in
Burundi and the fight against Somalia’s Al-
Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants.
“I’ve been consistent all across Africa on this.
When you start treating people differently,
because they’re different, that’s the path whereby
freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen,”
he said in a moment of open disagreement with
the Kenyan leader.
“When a government gets in the habit of treating
people differently those habits can spread. As an
African-American in the United States I am
painfully aware of what happens when people are
treated differently under the law. I am
unequivocal on this.”
He said that for “a law-abiding citizen who is
going about their business, and working at a job
and obeying the traffic signs and not harming
anybody, the idea they will be treated differently
or abused because of who they love is wrong, full
stop.”
Homophobia is on the rise in Africa, and for his
part Kenyatta only repeated that for him, gay
rights was “a non-issue.”
“There are some things that we must admit we
don’t share. It’s very difficult for us to impose on
people that which they themselves do not accept.
This is why I say for Kenyans today the issue of
gay rights is really a non-issue,” Kenyatta said.
Obama arrived in Kenya late on Friday, making
his first visit to the country of his father’s birth
since he was elected president.
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