The other week,
President Obama visited East Africa – his father’s ancestral homeland … and there
made the case for gay rights. Oops! that backfired! Some pastors in socially conservative Kenya,
along with the country’s president, voiced their objection to Obama’s remarks. 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,” said
Kenyatta, “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 (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,” said Onaiyekan. 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.
“The Catholic Church considers itself as carrying the banner of the
truth in the world that has allowed itself to be so badly deceived.”
According to Breitbart, 700-Kenyan evangelical
pastors wrote an open letter before Obama’s visit to Kenya, urging him not to
push the LGBT agenda in their country. Mark
Kariuki, who represents an alliance of 38,000-churches and 10-million Kenyan
Christians, mainly drafted the letter. “We
do not want him to come and talk on homosexuality in Kenya or push us to
accepting that which is against our faith and culture,” Kariuki said, adding
that while he welcomed Obama’s visit, he was not interested in “the gay talk.”
Williams reported that Obama’s views on gay rights have even riled
some black Christians in the United States. One of them included Rev. William Owens of the
Coalition of African American Pastors, who argued that homosexuals have never
been enslaved or oppressed. “I marched
with many people back in those days and I have reached out to some of my
friends who marched with me, and all of them are shocked,” Owens said. “They never thought they would see this day
that gay rights would be equated with civil rights. Not one agreed with this comparison.” Owens contended in fiery remarks that the
president was “a disgrace to the black community” for drawing the comparison. “He is rewriting history. We didn’t suffer and die for gay marriage,”
Owens said. “We marched for opportunity,
equality, justice, freedom from oppression. We are the true heirs of the civil rights
movement. We have a new movement to
reclaim the ‘real’ civil rights movement.”
CNN reported that besides
talking about gay rights, both Obama and Kenyatta addressed Kenya’s economy,
the fight against terrorism, and Obama’s personal connection to the country of
his father’s birth. Obama delivered
remarks at an indoor stadium in Nairobi where he told Kenya that the U.S. 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. “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.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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