his visit to Kenya.
Standing alongside President
Uhuru Kenyatta outside State House on Saturday, Obama answered a
journalist's question on gay rights by drawing equivalence between
homophobia and racism.
"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.
The
comparison is particularly stinging in Kenya, which, like other African
countries, has a proud history of resisting and overcoming colonial
rule by white foreigners.
"When
you start treating people differently –- because they're different –-
that's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode, and bad things happen,"
said Obama, adding that treating people differently "because of who
they love is wrong, full stop."
"I've
been consistent all across Africa on this," said Obama, who previously
spoke in support of gay rights during a visit to Senegal in 2013.
Then, President Macky Sall
replied that his country was "not ready" to decriminalise homosexuality,
which is illegal in 35 African countries and carries the death penalty
in four, according to campaign group Amnesty International.
On
Saturday, Kenyatta repeated his argument that, for Kenyans, gay rights
is "really a non-issue". He said it was an area of disagreement for
Kenya and the US.
"There are some things we don't share, that our society, our culture, don't accept," Kenyatta said.
Edna Kendi, a 29-year old
software developer was unimpressed by Obama publicly advocating gay
rights. "He has to respect our culture," she said. "People can be gay
but they should do so in private and quietly."
Kendi urged Obama to "stick to issues that are pertinent to the visit," for her, corruption and trade.
Moses Abok, a 49-year old motorbike taxi driver waiting for customers beneath a shady jacaranda tree, echoed Kenyatta's view.
"To
me, it doesn't matter. The spirit of gayism is inside just a few
people," he said using a common Kenyan term for homosexuality. "It's not
a big deal for us."
But Abok also welcomed Obama's
words. "What he said is we should value all people, we shouldn't
alienate or eliminate those people, because they are part of us, they
are human beings," he said.
Ruo
Maina, a 50-year old businessman in the manufacturing industry who had
popped out to buy the Sunday papers, said what you do at home is
nobody's business.
"As long
as you do it in private, we don't care," he said. Maina was not
interested in public debates on gay rights, but added that Kenya's vocal
anti-gay extremists are equally indulging in unnecessary "provocation".
"We don't need to be saying it is deviant," he said.
Deputy
President William Ruto periodically addresses evangelical Christian
churches to warn against homosexuality. There is "no room" for gays in
Kenya he told worshippers in May, and in July railed against the US for
allowing "gay relations and other dirty things."
Anti-gay
firebrand Irungu Kangata leads a cross-party caucus seeking to have the
country's existing anti-homosexuality laws –- which include a maximum
14-year sentence –- to be strictly applied and makes frequent media
appearances to explain that "gayism" is a lifestyle choice that can and
should be unmade.
Vincent
Kadala, an aspiring politician whose Republican Liberty Party has no
seats in parliament, threatened to rally 5,000 naked men and women in
order to show Obama "the difference between a man and woman".
The promised protest attracted a lot of media attention but was never held.
Source: AFP
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