In Kenya, Gay Rights Lectures Cost $1 Billion Dollars

I began writing this post last Friday, on the first day of President Obama's trip to Kenya. I thought it was nice to see him return to the homeland of his father.  Of course there was also presidential work to be done, as this trip was both personal and business.  No doubt, Kenyans would be thrilled to see President Obama--and they were. With so much going on in Kenya, such as widespread terror attacks, including the those specifically against Christians, along with the quest to build a stronger economy, improve infrastructure, healthcare, roles for women in society and education, I was very interested to see what the president would say to the people of Kenya, the land of his father.

The media focused primarily on the fact the President Obama was going to his father's homeland, and the fact that he is the first sitting American president to visit Kenya, but there was so much more.  For instance, he met with a group of entrepreneurs from around the world to discuss Power Africa, his 2013 electricity initiative, he laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy and attended a State dinner. But what I found quite interesting was the joint press conference held with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and the single issue, among an array of issues that could have been discussed, that President Obama chose to address.

"The fight against terrorism in Kenya should not be used to justify a crackdown on dissent," began the President.  He then said, "No nation should discriminate against gays and lesbians." He compared
such discrimination to the racial segregation era in America.  "If somebody is a law-abiding citizen who is going about their business and working in a job and obeying the traffic signs and doing all the other things a good citizen is supposed to do and not harming anybody, the idea that they are going to be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong.  Full stop." Later during the press conference, President Obama said, "As someone who has family in Kenya and knows the history of how the country so often is held back because women and girls are not treated fairly, I think those same values apply when it comes to different sexual orientations."  

Few on the continent of Africa see this as a pressing issue.  Is it because they want to cause harm to gay men and women?  I doubt it. I think it has more to do with the prioritizing of issues that impact the quality of life for most Africans, along with the values and culture of 53 of the 54 nations on the continent. According to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center, in every African country except for South Africa (where gay marriage is legal), 90-plus percent (and in some countries as many as 98%) of the people believe that homosexuality is against nature.

President Obama's commitment to LGBT rights and marriage is extensive and goes back a long way. Still, it's interesting that he chose to remain mum on the issues that most Kenyans, his father's people, consider critical, and instead lectured them on his own signature issue.  President Obama missed an opportunity to address terrorism, religious persecution, questions of how the $7 billion dollars was spent on his Power Initiative (which by most accounts has produced little power) or even healthcare. But when it's all said and done, I guess President Obama got what he wanted--a chance to promote gay rights in Kenya, and President Kenyatta got what he wanted, $1 billion U.S. dollars for Kenyan entrepreneurs.

I guess some would call this another amazing deal.