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PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has been consistent in his opposition to the acceptance of gay relationships as they are an affront to the norms, cultural values and traditions of the generality of the people of Zimbabwe and the wider African continent. The President has never hidden his disdain for the practices of homosexuality and lesbianism and at one time labelled gays as worse than dogs and pigs. His strong anti-gay stance, which is steeped in the country’s conservative Christian values and the President’s own Catholic background, has invited the ire of the proponents of same-sex relationships, particularly those in the West. Despite their political, religious and cultural differences, Zimbabweans have generally rallied behind the President on this subject because the gay rights crusade has failed to find currency in the country notwithstanding the millions of dollars poured into it.

Cde Mugabe’s speech to the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week where he declared, “We are not gay” might have elicited gasps and a mixed reaction from his audience but back home, there was unanimity that he had struck the right chord because Zimbabweans cannot countenance a situation where homosexuals and lesbians are accepted as a normal part of society. As chairman of the African Union, President Mugabe also spoke for the continent when he said upholding human rights is the obligation of all member states, but vehemently rejected the imposition of what he called “new rights” for gay marriage that have been advocated elsewhere in the world.

“We equally reject attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our norms, values, traditions and beliefs. Co-operation and respect for each other will advance the cause of human rights worldwide. Confrontation, vilification and double standards will not,” he said.

In June this year, the gay lobby gained fresh impetus when the United States Supreme Court made a landmark ruling requiring all 50 states in the US to legalise gay marriage. President Barack Obama called it “a victory for America” and subsequently took the campaign for gay rights to the rest of the world. “Our nation was founded on a bedrock principle that we are all created equal. The project of each generation is to bridge the meaning of those founding words with the realities of changing times,” he said a few days after the ruling.

However, despite the presidential seal of approval, the ruling has met with fierce resistance in conservative states in America and many court officials have been refusing to solemnize gay unions for religious reasons. For instance, Texas’ top law officer called the Supreme Court decision a “lawless ruling” and vowed to support state workers who refuse to marry couples on religious grounds. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said clerks could be fined if they refuse to issue marriage licences but his office would defend them in court free of charge.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said gay marriage would not be legal in the state until the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals gives the go-ahead. Other states are also resisting the ruling and we find it strange that President Obama has taken the gay lobby across the world when the citizens of his country are openly opposed to it.

On his visit to Africa earlier this year, Obama launched an unprecedented defence of gay rights, telling his host Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta that the State has no right to punish people because of “who they love”. That certainly ruffled feathers because homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and surveys show nine in 10 people find them unacceptable.

We therefore find it abhorrent that the US is seeking to foist gay rights on the rest of the world when it is clear that they are unacceptable especially in Africa where religious and cultural values are strongly conservative and averse to alien practices which promote devious behaviour.

Yesterday, we reported elsewhere on these pages that 12 UN agencies had signed a petition criticising President Mugabe for denouncing homosexuality and the West for trying to prescribe the practice on Africans and the developing world. US democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton also weighed in on the subject and bizarrely claimed that homosexuals were being jailed in Zimbabwe.

We dismiss the criticism directed at the President with the contempt it deserves because Cde Mugabe was speaking for the majority of people in Zimbabwe and Africa when he addressed the UN. His views were spot on and attempts by the US to spread its gay movement to the rest of the world will fall flat on its face particularly in Africa because homosexuality and other deviant sexual practices have no place on the continent.

We also call on the UN agencies to stick to their mandate and not overstep their boundaries by sniping at sitting Heads of State.