President Barack
Obama on Saturday lectured Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta about his country's
gay rights record.
"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," Obama said at a joint press conference with the Kenyan leader
in Nairobi. "And bad things happen."
Under
Kenyan law, sexual activity between men is illegal and punishable with a
maximum imprisonment of 14 years. Many Kenyan leaders had encouraged Obama not
to discuss gay rights on his first trip to the country as President.
But
Obama equated legalized discrimination of gays to legalized racism in America.
"And
when a government gets in a habit of people treating people differently, those
habits can spread," Obama continued. "As an African-American, I am
painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the
law."
Kenyatta, however, said that while the U.S.
and Kenya share many common values and goals, gay rights is not one of them.
"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," Kenyatta said. "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," Kenyatta continued. "This is why I
repeatedly say for Kenyans today the (gay rights issue) is generally a
non-issue. We want to focus on other areas."
After
that comment, a small amount of applause was heard, presumably from some of the
audience attending.
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