indago
07-22-2015, 08:57 AM
From The New York Times 21 July 2015:
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As the Obama administration has increased funding of gay rights groups abroad, tied overall aid to respect of gay rights and recently created the position of special envoy for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, some African leaders have responded with tough anti-gay laws and language that have fueled sentiment against gay people. ...It will be a chance for Mr. Obama — who will visit Kenya and Ethiopia during this trip, most likely the last one to Africa during his presidency — to reshape the narrative surrounding gay rights on the continent, activists say. On his last trip to Africa in 2013, Mr. Obama was seen as wagging his finger at Africans on gay rights during a news conference with Senegal’s president, Macky Sall. Mr. Sall swung back, saying that laws governing gay rights were Senegal’s alone to decide. The United States should respect that choice, he added, just as Senegal, which had long abolished the death penalty, respected America’s position on that matter.
...On Tuesday, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, said at a news conference that gay rights was “a nonissue” and “definitely not on our agenda at all” in his coming meeting with Mr. Obama. A lawmaker in Kenya’s governing party, Irungu Kang’ata, has led a campaign warning Mr. Obama against mentioning gay rights during his visit. Any statement, he said, would be an infringement on Kenya’s sovereignty and the latest example of America’s effort to impose its values on Africa.
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article (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/world/africa/africans-to-welcome-obama-but-not-a-scolding-on-gay-rights.html?ref=todayspaper)
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As the Obama administration has increased funding of gay rights groups abroad, tied overall aid to respect of gay rights and recently created the position of special envoy for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, some African leaders have responded with tough anti-gay laws and language that have fueled sentiment against gay people. ...It will be a chance for Mr. Obama — who will visit Kenya and Ethiopia during this trip, most likely the last one to Africa during his presidency — to reshape the narrative surrounding gay rights on the continent, activists say. On his last trip to Africa in 2013, Mr. Obama was seen as wagging his finger at Africans on gay rights during a news conference with Senegal’s president, Macky Sall. Mr. Sall swung back, saying that laws governing gay rights were Senegal’s alone to decide. The United States should respect that choice, he added, just as Senegal, which had long abolished the death penalty, respected America’s position on that matter.
...On Tuesday, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, said at a news conference that gay rights was “a nonissue” and “definitely not on our agenda at all” in his coming meeting with Mr. Obama. A lawmaker in Kenya’s governing party, Irungu Kang’ata, has led a campaign warning Mr. Obama against mentioning gay rights during his visit. Any statement, he said, would be an infringement on Kenya’s sovereignty and the latest example of America’s effort to impose its values on Africa.
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article (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/world/africa/africans-to-welcome-obama-but-not-a-scolding-on-gay-rights.html?ref=todayspaper)