President
Barack Obama on Thursday praised the Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage as
a "victory for American democracy" but clashed with his African host
over gay rights in a sign of how far the movement has to go internationally.
Obama said recognition of same-sex unions in the United
States should cross state lines and that equal rights should be recognized
universally. It was his first chance to expand on his thoughts about the
ruling, which was issued Wednesday as he flew to Senegal, one of many African
countries that outlaw homosexuality. Senegalese President Macky Sall rebuffed
Obama's call for Africans to give gays equal rights under the law.
Obama
said gay rights didn't come up in their private meeting at the presidential
palace, a mansion that looks somewhat similar to the White House. But Obama
said he wants to send a message to Africans that while he respects differing personal
and religious views on the matter, it's important to have nondiscrimination
under the law.
"People should be treated equally, and that's a
principle that I think applies universally," he said.
A
report released Monday by Amnesty International says 38 African countries
criminalize homosexuality. In four of those — Mauritania, northern Nigeria,
southern Somalia and Sudan — the punishment is death. These laws appear to have
broad public support. A June 4 Pew Research Center survey found at least nine of
10 respondents in Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria believe
homosexuality should not be accepted by society.
Sall sought to reassure Obama that gays are not
persecuted in Senegal.
Under
Senegalese law, "an improper or unnatural act with a person of the same
sex" can be punished by up to five years in prison.
And as recently as February of 2008, police rounded up
men suspected of being homosexual after a Senegalese tabloid published
photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb of Dakar. Gays went into
hiding and those who could fled to neighboring countries, but they were pushed
out of Gambia by the president's threat of decapitation.
No comments:
Post a Comment