Mugabe 'proposes to Obama' as he mocks US legalisation of gay marriage
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe mocked America's decision to legalise gay marriage across all 50 states by vowing to travel to the White House and proposing to Barack Obama.
During his weekly interview with the national radio station, the Zimbabwean president joked that he planned to travel to Washington DC 'get down on one knee and ask his hand', reports UK-based Daily Mail Online.
Mugabe, who is known for his brutal crusades against homosexuality, was responding in bizarre fashion to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees gays and lesbians the same right to marry as heterosexuals.
Speaking on Saturday, Mugabe said: 'I've just concluded - since President Obama endorses the same-sex marriage, advocates homosexual people and enjoys an attractive countenance - thus if it becomes necessary, I shall travel to Washington, DC, get down on my knee and ask his hand.'
Striking a more serious tone, he added: 'I can't understand how this people dare to defy Christ's explicit orders as our Lord prohibited mankind from sodomy', going on to accuse the US government of being run by 'perverted Satan-worshipers who insult the great American nation.'
The Zimbabwean leader went on to say that although the US was founded on 'lofty Christian principles', the 'corrupt political elite' now acts only towards its own end, according to Naij.com, the daily reports.
His comments came only hours after the Supreme Court's landmark decision to legalise gay marriage in all 50 states - prompting thousands of same-sex couples to immediately tie the knot.
The ruling was delivered just in time for the weekend's Pride celebrations, which saw the Empire State building, Niagara Falls and the White House lit up by rainbow lights.
Yesterday Zimbabwe's neighbour Mozambique decriminalised homosexuality when a new penal code came into force that swept away old Portuguese colonial laws.
In a victory for gay rights campaigners in Africa, previous laws punishing homosexuality with three months of hard labour were scrapped.
The old code, dating back to 1886, targeted anyone 'who habitually engages in vices against nature' - but no known prosecutions took place after Mozambique became independent in 1975.
'It's a symbolic victory, as social inclusion remains the main challenge,' Frank, a student gay rights activist who declined to give his full name, Mail Online reports quoting AFP.
The new penal code, which was announced last December by then president Armando Guebuza, also decriminalises abortion after lobbying by civil rights organisations.
The code came into force on Monday, though no official events or celebrations were scheduled to mark the occasion. The majority of African countries outlaw homosexuality, but Mozambique has seen little anti-gay violence or social friction over the issue.