The president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, has made some extremely harsh statements involving gay people and how he feels about them. He has used his address to the United Nations General Assembly to attack the gay and lesbian community, calling homosexuality one of the three biggest threats to human existence. Several senators and other people in the political world of the United States have shown their strong stance against the gay community, but nothing as serious as this, and it needs to be addressed.
Gambia’s president ranked homosexuality right up at the top along with greed and obsession with world domination, saying that they are “more deadly than all natural disasters put together.” It would be interesting to see where he gets such outrageous information since natural disasters are known to kill and displace people all over the world, and the only destructive thing that the gay community has been a part of seems to be when they are attacked themselves.
Hatred and judgement are HUGE threats >> Yahya Jammeh, Gambia President, Calls Homosexuality A Top Global Threat http://t.co/U7jg1LOg1x
— Selena Cuffe (@selenacuffe) September 28, 2013
Gambia President Jammeh said at UNSGA homosexuality is worst than climate change; LGBT promotes human race extinction. Sha
— Fred Kennedy (@fredymorgan81) September 28, 2013
It is puzzling why political leaders and people all over the world continue to be so threatened by something such as homosexuality, which is no threat to them whatsoever, especially politically. ABC News mentions that this is not the first time that he has used such harsh words either, and in fact in 2008 told gays and lesbians to leave the country or they would have their heads cut off. He has been criticized throughout his career, and took power in the small West African country in 1994, after a coup.
He has also drawn international criticism for claiming that he can cure AIDS with an herbal body rub and bananas. What does he even mean with an outrageous statement like that and how does a leader like this remain in power? In the gathering of world leaders in New York, Jammeh stated “Those who promote homosexuality want to put an end to human existence. It is becoming an epidemic and we Muslims and Africans will fight to end this behavior.”
Gambia President Jammeh said at UNSGA homosexuality is worst than climate change; LGBT promotes human race extinction. Sha
— Fred Kennedy (@fredymorgan81) September 28, 2013
Andre Banks, executive director of global gay rights group All Out, said Jammeh’s remarks were “paranoid and disturbing.” Both male and female same-sex sexual activity has been deemed illegal in the country, according to The Huffington Post.
Today in insanely homophobic news, Gambia's president has decided he's identified our top global threat http://t.co/dBOttXIgPp
— Salon.com (@Salon) September 27, 2013
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