Obama, Kenyatta Disagree Over Gay Rights

US President Barack Obama called for gay rights in Africa during his landmark visit to Kenya, comparing homophobia to racial discrimination he had encountered in the United States.

In a joint press conference after talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama also pushed a tough message on Kenyan corruption, the civil war in South Sudan, controversial elections in Burundi and the fight against Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants.

Obama arrived in Kenya on Friday, his first visit as president to his father’s birthplace and the first to the East African nation by a serving US leader.

“I’ve been consistent all across Africa on this. When you start treating people differently, because they’re different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen,” he said after talks with the Kenyan leader, in response to a question on gay rights.

“As an African-American in the United States I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law. I am unequivocal on this,” Obama told a joint news conference, openly disagreeing with Kenyatta.

He said that the notion “a law-abiding citizen… will be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop.”