Oh yes he did. Despite warnings from political and religious leaders in Kenya, President Obama respectfully championed LGBT civil rights at a press conference with the President of Kenya today.
In Kenya today, a reporter asked President Barack Obama and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta about civil rights for LGBT people. President Obama respectfully but strongly explained that when a country allows any group of people to be marginalized, it opens the door to allowing other groups to become marginalized in the future.Â
“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 and bad things happen,” the President warned. “And when a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread.”
He concluded, “the state does not need to weigh in on religious doctrine. The state just has to say we’re going to treat everybody equally under the law. And then everybody else can have their own opinions.”
President Kenyatta held to his previous statements, repeating that in Kenya gay rights are a “non-issue,” and he would rather “focus on other areas that are day-to-day living for our people,” like health issues, infrastructure, education, encouraging entrepreneurship, and “ensuring inclusivity of women,” which he described as “a huge section of society that is normally left out of the mainstream of economic development.”
For the full transcript, see NCRM’s earlier report:Â
BREAKING: Despite Threats, President Obama Makes A Case For Gay Rights In Kenya.
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Image: Screenshot via NBC News video