Kenya Stands Firm for Morality Despite President Obama's Urging for "Gay Rights"

Isaiah Narciso : Jul 28, 2015
Gospel Herald

"Unfortunately, we are living in a world where these things have now become quite acceptable but for the fact that they are acceptable doesn't mean that they are right." -Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Archbishop of Abuja Diocese in Nigeria.

(Kenya)—In his historic visit to East Africa over the weekend, President Barack Obama went to his father's ancestral homeland and made the case for gay rights there. However, some pastors in socially conservative Kenya, along with the country's president, have voiced their objection to Obama's remarks. (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

U.S. President Barack Obama delivered remarks at an indoor stadium in Nairobi. Obama told Kenya on Saturday the United States was ready to work more closely in the battle against Somalia's Islamist group al Shabaab, but chided his host on gay rights and said no African state should discriminate over sexuality.

According to Kristen Holmes and Eugene Scott of CNN, the president met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. One of the topics focused on Kenya'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. "And bad things happen."

CNN reported that any sexual activity between men is illegal under Kenyan law, which is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. While many Kenyan leaders warned Obama not to bring up the issue of gay rights, the president argued that legalized discrimination of gays was similar to racial discrimination in the United States...

Kenyatta responded that although the U.S. and Kenya shared many common values and goals, gay rights was 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."

Kenyatta added that his country wanted "to focus on other areas."

"It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept," Kenyatta said. "This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today the (gay rights issue) is generally a non-issue."

According to Dr. Thomas Williams of Breitbart, a series of African bishops and other religious leaders reminded Obama that the Church's stance against homosexual acts will not change. One of those objectors included Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Archbishop of Abuja Diocese in Nigeria.

"Unfortunately, we are living in a world where these things have now become quite acceptable but for the fact that they are acceptable doesn't mean that they are right," Onaiyekan said.

Onaiyekan acknowledged that while public opinion may be trending toward accepting acts of homosexuality, he argued that public opinion and morality are not the same.

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