John Kerry US Secretary of State
Picture Courtesy: NATION MEDIA GROUP

By Baboucarr Ceesay

Source: Africa Review www.africareview.com

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Washington was deeply troubled by the harsh, anti-gay comments made by the Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh.

Mr Kerry was responding to the ‘hateful’ sentiments against gays expressed by President Jammeh in his National Day speech on February 18.

“All people are created equal and should be able to live free from discrimination, and that includes discrimination based on sexual identity and sexual orientation. We call on the Government of The Gambia to protect the human rights of all Gambians, and we encourage the international community to send a clear signal that statements of this nature have no place in the public dialogue and are unacceptable,” he emphasised.

Mr Kerry said human rights and fundamental freedoms belonged to all individuals.

“The United States stands by you no matter where you are and no matter who you love.”

President Jammeh, in his 49th Independence Day speech said: “We will fight these vermin called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes; if not more aggressively.”

He spelled out LGBT as an abbreviation that only stands Leprosy, Gonorrhoea, Bacteria and Tuberculosis; all of which are detrimental to human existence.

In his characteristic onslaught, President Jammeh threatened to behead homosexuals.