by Ben Johnson
BURBANK, CA, August 7, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Obama canceled a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin one day after criticizing that nation's law against homosexual propaganda on NBC's The Tonight Show as immoral.
Obama said the law, which among other things forbids anyone from promoting same-sex marriage, “violates basic morality.”
Host Jay Leno led into the subject matter during Obama's sixth visit to the comedy program, and his fourth as president of the United States.
“I’m surprised this is not a huge story: suddenly, homosexuality is against the law,” Leno said, incorrectly. "This seems like Germany. 'Let's round up the Jews, let's round up the gays, let's round up the blacks.' I mean, it starts with that. You round up people you don't like. Why is not more of the world outraged at this?"
Russia's anti-gay propaganda law, which Vladimir Putin signed this summer, falls short of herding homosexuals into concentration camps. The law fines Russians who advocate gay “marriage” the equivalent of $156 (U.S.). The wildly popular measure does not criminalize homosexual relations but bars any public communications “intended to form in a minor a nontraditional sexual foundation.”
Obama, who did not correct Leno, replied, “I’ve been very clear that when it comes to universal rights, when it comes to people’s basic freedoms, that whether you are discriminating on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, you are violating the basic morality that I think should transcend every country.”
He added that he had “no patience for countries” that do not affirm “gays or lesbians or transgender persons.”
The president has signaled that he considers marriage redefinition an inalienable right since at least 2010, when his administration included a reference to “equal rights to marriage” as a part of the first-ever report on U.S. human rights to the UN Human Rights Council.
Obama widened the discussion to include Africa, where he said his hectoring of foreign leaders “makes for some uncomfortable press conferences sometimes.”
President Obama's zeal to secure state approval of homosexuality in Africa, which commenced years ago, boiled over this summer as Obama provoked a confrontation with his African host during a joint press conference with President Macky Sall. The shock waves reached continent-wide, as both the deputy president of Kenya and a Kenyan Cardinal criticized decadent, progressive nations that they said had forsaken God and the natural order.
The president told Leno promoting the LGBT political agenda globally is “very important,” because such prerogatives “should apply everywhere.”
Russia has indicated it will not suspend its law during the upcoming Olympics, leading to calls from homosexual organizations to boycott the event. Obama responded that Russian officials know that "most of the countries that participate in the Olympics...wouldn't tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently."
His ire over Russia's family-affirming law seemed to outweigh concerns over national security, as he said only that he was "disappointed" Vladimir Putin had granted temporary asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
On Wednesday, Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president had canceled the September meeting with Putin, because “there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda.” He added that Russia's “disappointing decision” on Snowden “was also a factor that we considered.”
Tuesday night's pre-recorded interview ranged on a variety of topics, including NSA surveillance, immigration, and the George Zimmerman verdict.
"We don't have a domestic spying program," Obama said at one point. The NSA, he said, merely has "some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address” and produces information that “is useful."
John McCain received stout praise from his former rival, who called the senator a "person of integrity" for assisting his push for amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Obama also commented on the shooting of Trayvon Martin, again, noting that Martin was “a perfect kid.”
“We all know young African-American men disproportionately have involvement in criminal activities and violence for a lot of reasons, and that’s no excuse,” he said.
“What I’m trying to do is just make sure that we have a conversation and that were all asking ourselves, ‘Are there some things we can do to foster better understanding and to make sure we don’t have laws in place that encourage the kind of violent encounter that we saw there that resulted in tragedy?'”
Barack Obama has yet to address the Kermit Gosnell case.
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