Gambia's Yahya Jammeh echoes in the African wilderness

If you are to give us aid for men and men or for women and women to marry, leave it; we don’t need your aid because, as long as I am the President of The Gambia, you will never see that happen in this country. One thing we will never compromise, for whatever reason, is the integrity of our culture, our dignity and our sovereignty. [...] Sometimes you hear of a lot of noise about the laws of this country or my pronouncements; let me make it very clear that, if you want me to offend God for you to give me aid, you are making a great mistake; you will not bribe me to do what is evil and ungodly. I made it very clear, and I will make it very clear to this august body again that every country, every society, every culture has its own natural dos and dont’s. (Gambia’s Jammeh)

Yahya Jammeh

Poor Yahya Jammeh. He has arrived at the gay bashers’ party after the last of the crumbs have been chewed and spat out by Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Ghana and Liberia. But he still feels that, despite being so late, he must still make his vituperative speech. After all, despite the party goers all being drunk on anti-gay rhetoric, he prepared it and, damn it, he must give it. Isn’t that why he is an African president?

We can now all go back into our drunken anti-gay slumbers. We’ve heard all this before and, truth be told, we are likely to hear more of it as yet more preening presidents join the shrill anti-gay chorus. Is that a discordant note I hear? No, the band is drunk, too. Yawn …

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• Gambian President says country won’t accept aid money tied to gay rights (voanews.com)
• 18 men in Gambia face homosexuality charges (76crimes.com)