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Kenya Visit: Obama clashes with Kenyatta on gay rights

The US and Kenyan presidents have differed sharply in their positions on gay rights at a news conference on the first full day of Barack Obama’s visit to Africa.

While Mr Obama spoke strongly against discrimination, Uhuru Kenyatta said Kenya did not share the same values.

“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.”

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