Christian conservative Bryan Fischer on
Monday criticized President Barack Obama for speaking out in support
of gay rights while visiting Kenya.
Obama made his remarks during a joint
press conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“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 in Nairobi. “And bad things happen.”
“And when a government gets in a
habit of people treating people differently, those habits can
spread,” Obama
added. “As an African-American, I am painfully aware of what
happens when people are treated differently under the law.”
Kenyatta, however, defended his
nation's laws – which make homosexuality a crime punishable by up
to 14 years imprisonment – suggesting that they were rooted in
tradition.
“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,” he said. “But there are some things that we must
admit we don't share. Our culture, our societies don't accept.”
“It is very difficult for us to be
able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept,”
Kenyatta added. “This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today
the [gay rights issue] is generally a non-issue. We want to focus on
other areas.”
Fischer chided Obama – calling him
“rude” – and claimed that African leaders “are more
enlightened” than the United States on the issue of gay rights.
“We are smart enough. We are bright
enough. We are intelligent enough. We are sane enough to make this
kind of behavior contrary to public policy,” Fischer
said on behalf of the continent's leaders. “We're not going to
embrace it. We're not going to promote it. We're not even going to
make it legal.”