Secretary of State John Kerry said that a new bill pending in Arizona that would permit segregation against LGBT people based on one’s religious beliefs is comparable to a collection of harsh anti-LGBT laws in Uganda because both are “contrary to fundamental basic human rights.”
Kerry made the comments Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. His comments are perhaps the most direct comments from a top-ranking Obama administration official on Arizona’s SB 1062 bill. Gov. Jan Brewer (R) is mulling whether to veto the bill before the Saturday deadline, when the bill will become law if she does nothing.
Mitchell asked, “You have an anti-homosexual law Uganda. And now Arizona is looking into whether it will allow gays and lesbians into restaurants. Doesn’t this show other countries how we feel about homosexuality in our states?”
Kerry responded that he was “counting on” Brewer to make the right decision on the bill.
“I cannot imagine how the law would withstand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Kerry said. “So I would hope that she’ll make the right decision.”
Kerry added that “this is not an easy path for the United States. But what’s important is we are on the path, we have stayed steady, we have made enormous progress in the United States and we will stand up for people’s rights anywhere in the world because that’s who we are in the United States of America.”
Kerry went on to compare the bill to the Uganda law which he said is “contrary to fundamental basic human rights.”
“It’s contrary to everything that we believe is representative of a growing understanding in the world about the rights of our fellow human beings,” Kerry said. “And so we will fight against it. Now, I was not aware until recently, very recently, that there are 80 countries that have laws on their books of one kind or another that outlaw homosexuality. And it’s just — this is going to be now a fight that’s going to be taken from places where great progress has been made to the world.”
