President Barack Obama will put an emphasis on the importance of LGBT rights in his state visit to Kenya, he told the BBC.
Despite several trips to Africa during his presidency, this it the first time the President has visited Kenya — the birthplace of his father — while in office. In an interview with the BBC ahead of his trip, Obama made clear that he would be raising the issue of LGBT rights with Kenya’s president, despite protests from some politicians in the nation.
“The deputy president in Kenya, who you’re going to meet, Mr Ruto, he said, ‘We have heard that in the US they have allowed gay relations and other dirty things,'” BBC correspondent Jon Sopel told the President.
“Yeah. Well, I disagree with him on that, don’t I?” Obama responded. “And I’ve had this experience before when we’ve visited Senegal in my last trip to Africa.
“I was very blunt about my belief that everybody deserves fair treatment, equal treatment in the eyes of the law and the state,” he continued. “And that includes gays, lesbians, transgender persons. I am not a fan of discrimination and bullying of anybody on the basis of race, on the basis of religion, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender.”
The President declared that LGBT rights would be “front and center” as part of his agenda, alongside Kenya’s treatment of women and girls. Mr. Obama emphasized his personal connection to the nation, which fueled a desire to see greater equality in the region.
“As somebody who has family in Kenya and knows the history of how the country so often is held back because women and girls are not treated fairly, I think those same values apply when it comes to different sexual orientations,” he said.
The President won’t have an easy task ahead of him in convincing Kenyans that LGBT rights are an important part of improving their nation. A UN report determined that homosexuality is “largely considered to be taboo and repugnant to [the] cultural values and morality” of Kenya. Sex between men is illegal, punishable by up to 21 years in prison, while transgender individuals are often subject to stigma and violence from the general public.
When Martha Nell Smith was a child, she was given a book called The Golden Treasury of Poetry. "I was a nerdy kid, I liked to read," the 72-year-old academic says, adding, "I also liked to play. I was a very sporty kid too. I was a tomboy."
The book contained several poems by Emily Dickinson. "I thought these look so simple, but when you think about it, they are really weird," she says. "But you could say that about almost any Dickinson poem."
Smith recounts the long and winding path that led her to become one of the foremost experts on Emily Dickinson, with a particular focus on the poet's secretly romance-laden letters to her sister-in-law, Susan Dickinson.
As Democrats celebrated major wins in key state contests on November 4, a wave of out LGBTQ candidates scored victories of their own in local and down-ballot races, further boosting LGBTQ representation in public office.
In Virginia, boosted by Abigail Spanberger's win in the governor's race, Democrats picked up 13 seats in the 100-member House of Delegates, increasing the size of their caucus to 64. All six incumbent LGBTQ delegates who were up for re-election -- Rozia Henson (D-Woodbridge), Laura Jane Cohen (D-Burke), Mark Sickles (D-Franconia), Adele McClure (D-Arlington), Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) and Cia Price (D-Newport News) -- won their races.
Apple has pulled two of China's most popular gay dating apps from its App Store after receiving an order from the country's top internet regulator and censorship agency.
According to Wired, the tech giant removed Blued and Finka from both Apple's iOS App Store and several Android marketplaces over the weekend. New downloads are now blocked, though the apps remain functional for users who already had them installed.
"We follow the laws in the countries where we operate," an Apple spokesperson told Wired in an email. "Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only." The spokesperson added that the apps haven't been available in other countries for some time.
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