Obama spoke about gay rights in Kenya, called for equality

Yesterday, US president Barack Obama addressed gay rights during his historic state visit to Kenya – his father’s homeland – despite calls from local officials to skip the controversial topic.

At a joint press conference with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama advocated equality, saying, “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 added, “When you start treating people differently, not because of any harm they’re doing anybody but because they’re different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode.”

But Kenyatta made it clear that he did not share this view.

“The fact of the matter is Kenya and the United States, we share so many values… but there are some things that we must admit we don’t share, [that] our culture, our societies don’t accept,” he said.

Kenyatta added that “the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue” for Kenyans in that there are more pressing matters concerning the “day-to-day living” of the population.

In Kenya, sexual activity between people of the same sex is a crime punishable by up to 14 years of imprisonment.

You can watch the clip of Obama and Kenyatta’s views on gay rights in this CNN report.