Kenyan President SHUT DOWN Obama’s Gay Rights Lecture

07.27.2015 | News | Alicia Powe |

President Obama lectured Kenya’s president on gay rights during his visit to Kenya as president Saturday, despite pleas from African leaders prior to his visit to leave his views on homosexuality at home.

“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, and bad things happen. And when a government gets in habit of people treating people differently, those habits can spread,” Obama said during a joint press conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Obama said he understands the pain of being treated differently because of his race.

“As an African-American, I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law,”he said. “As somebody who has family in Kenya and knows the history of how the country so often is held back because women and girls are not treated fairly, I think those same values apply when it comes to different sexual orientations,”

Obama’s call for universal gay rights was quickly dismissed by Kenyatta, who described the issue as something “our culture, our society does not accept.”

“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. 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. This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today the [gay right issue] is generally a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas that are day-to-day living for our people,” he said, citing heath concerns and women’s rights.

“This issue is not really an issue that is on the foremost of mind for Kenyans, and that is a fact,” he said to drawing applause from the Kenyan audience.

Kenyatta’s comments represent the views of the vast majority of African leaders, many of whom rely on their religious beliefs in their day-to-day governance. Ninety-six percent of Kenyans believe that “homosexuality should be rejected,” according to a 2007 survey. A 2011 survey showed that 89% of gays who were outed or came out to their families were disowned.

Kenyan politicians and religious leaders sent a letter to President Obama last week warning him that any overtures on gay rights would not be welcomed in Kenya.

Bishop Mark Kariuki, the key architect of the letter who represents an alliance representing 38,000 churches and 10 million Kenyan Christians, says Obama is destroying America with his support for gay marriage.

“We do not want him to come and talk on homosexuality in Kenya or push us to accepting that which is against our faith and culture,” said Kariuki. “The family is the strength of a nation. If the family is destroyed, then the nation is destroyed. So we don’t want to open doors for our nation to be destroyed.”

“Let him talk about development; let him talk about cooperation; let him talk about the long-time relationship Kenya has had with America. But about our beliefs and culture– keep off!” Kariuki said.

Obama blatantly ignored their request. Ironically, he has made no attempt to spread his gay rights message to Islamic nations. He, in fact, Obama gave over $100 billion to Iran, a nation that hangs gay teens and leads the world in executing gays.

Alicia Powe

Staff Writer

Alicia Powe is a staff writer for Daily Surge. She worked in the War Room of the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee and served as a White House Intern during the George W. Bush administration. Alicia has written for numerous outlets, including Human Events, Media Research Center and Townhall.com.

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