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Scenes of joy after Supreme Court ruling |
Dakar, Senegal (CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama
on Thursday called on countries throughout the world to decriminalize
homosexuality, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court handed a major victory
to proponents of same-sex marriage.
Every group of people has
a right to its own views, Obama said, and that diversity should be
respected, "but when it comes to how the state treats people -- how the
law treats people -- I believe that everybody has to be treated equal."
He spoke at a news conference with President Macky Sall of Senegal, a
country in which homosexuality is illegal.
"Regardless of race,
regardless of religion, regardless of gender, regardless of sexual
orientation ... people should be treated equally, and that's a principle
that I think applies universally," Obama said.
The remarks came in response to a question from CNN as to whether he was pressing Sall on the issue.
Obama said that the issue
did not come up in their talks, but that the question of how gays and
lesbians are treated has been coming up in Africa in general.
Sall responded that his country has no plans to decriminalize homosexuality.
"Senegal is a very
tolerant country which does not discriminate in terms of inalienable
rights of human beings," he said, according to an official translation.
People are not refused jobs for being gay, he said. "But we are still
not ready to decriminalize homosexuality."
"But of course this does not mean that we are all homophobic," Sall insisted.
Sall then turned to another issue on which the two nations differ: capital punishment.
"In our country, we have abolished it for many years," he said, adding, "We do respect the choice of each country."
Obama's Africa visit
Obama left the United
States on Wednesday for a trip to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania --
his second visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office.
The trip aims to bolster
investment opportunities for U.S. businesses, address development
issues such as food security and health, and promote democracy. It comes
as China aggressively engages the continent. The Asian nation is
pouring billions of dollars into Africa, running oil and mining firms,
and in 2009 replaced the United States as the largest trading partner.
At Thursday's news
conference, Obama was asked to assess the big news at home: the Supreme
Court ruling Wednesday striking down a key part of the Defense of
Marriage Act.
The decision was "not
simply a victory for the LGBT community," he said, referring to lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people. "I think it was a victory for
American democracy."
"I believe at the root
of who we are as a people, as Americans, is the basic precept that we
are all equal under the law. We believe in basic fairness. And what I
think yesterday's ruling signifies is one more step towards ensuring
that those basic principles apply to everybody," Obama said in response
to a question from CNN's Jessica Yellin.
His administration will
now have to comb through every federal statute, he said, to ensure that
federal benefits "apply to all married couples."
There are complexities,
he noted. Since some states recognize same-sex marriages and others
don't, the government will need to determine whether a same-sex couple
remains married under federal law after moving to a state that does not
recognize the marriage.
Mandela's influence
Obama also spoke of ailing former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is in critical condition in a Pretoria hospital.
"My first act of
political activism was when I was at Occidental College as a 19-year-old
-- I got involved in the anti-apartheid movement," Obama said.
He said he was inspired
by what was taking place at the time in South Africa. He had read
Mandela's writings and speeches, and understood "that this was somebody
who believed in that basic principle I just talked about -- treating
people equally -- and was willing to sacrifice his life for that
belief."
Mandela "is a personal
hero" and "a hero for the world," Obama said. "And if and when he passes
from this place, one thing I think we'll all know is that his legacy is
one that will linger on throughout the ages."
Obama's visit to South
Africa on Saturday will include a stop at Robben Island, where Mandela
spent a majority of his 27 years in prison. The White House schedule
does not include a visit with the anti-apartheid icon.
After making his remarks Thursday, Obama visited Goree Island, which once served as a strategic post in the transatlantic slave trade.
He called the trip a
"powerful" reminder that "we have to remain vigilant when it comes to
the defense of human rights. ...This is a testament to when we're not
vigilant in defense of human rights, what can happen."
"Obviously, for an
African-American, an African-American president, to be able to visit
this site, I think, gives me even greater motivation in terms of human
rights around the world," Obama said.
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