President Robert Mugabe shouted “we are not gays,” in a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York criticising what the 91-year-old leader since independence referred to as “new” human rights.
“Respecting and upholding human rights is the obligation of all states, and is enshrined in the United Nations charter. Nowhere does the charter abrogate the right to some to sit in judgment over others, in carrying out this universal obligation,” Mugabe said, adding: “In that regard, we reject the politicisation of this important issue and the application of double standards to victimise those who dare think and act independently of the self-anointed prefects of our time.
“We equally reject attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions, and beliefs,” Mugabe said. “We are not gays.”
The line reportedly drew light applause and audible laughter from the assembled UN audience. Mugabe is no stranger to controversy. Last year he called same-sex relationships “inhuman” and threatened to expel any diplomats who supported the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. In 2013, he used remarks against homosexuals to attack U.S. President Barack Obama.
Anti-gay rhetoric has been essential in Mugabe’s effort to keep his position of power in Zimbabwe, where sodomy is illegal and the Sexual Deviancy Act of 2006 criminalises any contact between men that would “be regarded by a reasonable person to be an indecent act.
Many sub-Saharan countries have railed against Western pressure to expand LGBT rights to citizens by imposing ever harsher penalties on anyone found to be engaging in or promoting homosexuality. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of sub-Saharan Africans consider homosexuality to be morally unacceptable. Many believe that Western leaders are attempting to impose homosexuality.
