OBAMA'S AFRICAN THREE-COUNTRY TOUR ON GAY RIGHTS

DAKAR -- U.S. President Barack Obama hit out at discrimination against gays in Africa and hailed the continent's “amazing” progress and potential Thursday on the first leg of a three-country tour.

Obama, the son of a Kenyan, said he understood different religions and cultures prized distinct beliefs and traditions, but that the simple principle of equality should be the guide for states and governments.
“I want the African people to just hear what I believe,” Obama said.
“My basic view is that regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of gender, regardless of sexual orientation, when it comes to how the law treats you ... people should be treated equally.”
Senegalese President Macky Sall replied that though Senegal was a “very tolerant country which does not discriminate in terms of inalienable rights of the human
 being,” it was not ready yet to decriminalize homosexuality.
“But of course this does not mean that we are all homophobic,” he added.

In between formal commitments, Obama paid a poignant visit to Goree Island, a potent symbol of the horrors of slavery.