Posted on 03/22/2012 10:01:16 AM PDT by marshmallow
Exclusive: In joint interview, Tony Blair refuses to comment on Liberian president's remarks supporting anti-gay laws
The Nobel peace prize winner and president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has defended a law that criminalises homosexual acts, saying: "We like ourselves just the way we are."
In a joint interview with Tony Blair, who was left looking visibly uncomfortable by her remarks, Sirleaf told the Guardian: "We've got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve."
Liberian legislation classes "voluntary sodomy" as a misdemeanour punishable by up to one year in prison, but two new bills have been proposed that would target homosexuality with much tougher sentences. The normally charismatic and eloquent Nobel laureate, when questioned, was brusque, "I won't sign any law that has to do with that area. None whatsoever," she said impatiently.
Blair, on a visit to Liberia in his capacity as the founder of the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), a charity that aims to strengthen African governments, refused to comment on Sirleaf's remarks.
When asked whether good governance and human rights went hand in hand, the British former prime minister said: "I'm not giving you an answer on it."
"One of the advantages of doing what I do now is I can choose the issues I get into and the issues I don't. For us, the priorities are around power, roads, jobs delivery," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
LOL, can the Nobel committee “re-gift” the prize? That’s gotta hurt!
Even natural man recognizes the vice as reprehensible.
Just because England and America are no longer Christian nations doesn’t mean Liberia can’t be one. Growing up, we had good friends who were missionaries in Liberia — and their children still are. I like to think their influence is making a difference.
OMG that's beautiful.
first that island, now Liberia. That's two potential refuges.
“We’ve got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve.”
There will be a lot of nations wishing they had been so enlightened when they tire of the homosexual (perversion) agenda, and all that it brings.
I used to be a live and let live sorta guy on the subject. Now I would opt for the outlawing of it not purely on the basis of the act but on all that comes with it. Evil begets more evil and nothing good can come from it.
Mel
When politically correct sensitivities collide, what is the outcome? I think an accounting must be made, so that those that are feared the most are offended the least, and those that are hated the most are offended as much as possible.
In this case, the most careful of calculations apparently gave no clear guidance, so Blair resorted to obfuscation and silence.
But if anyone described him as an "imperialist," he would furiously deny it.
“Even natural man recognizes the vice as reprehensible.”
Even worse, the election of this female president was supposed to show the enlightenment of Africa.
Good for her; Liberia has a lot of old-school Protestants.
“I used to be a live and let live sorta guy on the subject.”
I tried to be, but the turning point for me was the desecration of the Host in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC (and it has only gotten worse since). When people realize that schoolchildren have to be taught certain things, and that the deviants weren’t just looking for peace “in the closet”, their natural revulsion kicks in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.