WASHINGTON (AP) – Ignoring calls from some African leaders to leave some of his opinions at home, President Barack Obama spoke favorably of gay rights as he prepared to visit Kenya and Ethiopia.
Asked during a BBC interview about Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, a critic of gay rights in the U.S., Obama said, “Yeah, well, I disagree with him on that, don’t I?”
“Everybody deserves fair treatment – equal treatment – in the eyes of the law and the state,” Obama said. “And that includes gays, lesbians, transgender persons.”
Obama, who departed Washington late Thursday for Africa, had faced criticism from rights groups and growing calls to press the issue aggressively while in a region known for a bleak record on human rights. In the BBC interview, he said he had been “blunt” with African leaders about gay rights in the past and planned to make it part of his agenda.
The first sitting U.S. president to visit Kenya, Obama will also be visiting his ancestral homeland when he arrives Friday to attend a business summit and meetings with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Obama’s late father was from Kenya, and in the interview, Obama cited his relatives still in Kenya to argue he knows how the country’s history of mistreating women and girls has held Kenya back.