At a news conference on Saturday in Kenya, President Barak Obama sat Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, in the corner and gave him a stern talking to — about LGBT rights.

During the speech, Obama equated LGBT rights to legalized racism. As reported by CNN:

“When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode,” Obama said at a joint press conference with the Kenyan leader in Nairobi. “And bad things happen.”…

…”And when a government gets in a habit of people treating people differently, those habits can spread,” Obama continued. “As an African-American, I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law.”

Needless to say Kenyatta wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of Obama telling him how to run his country, and replied as follows:

“The fact of the matter is Kenya and the U.S. share so many values: common love for democracy, entrepreneurship, value for families — these are some things that we share. But there are some things that we must admit we don’t share, our culture, our societies don’t accept.

“It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept. This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today the [gay rights issue] is generally a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas.”

Despite saying he is the “first Kenyan-American to be president of the United States,” Obama may not be as in sync with the country as he originally thought.

Although Obama may have meant well, it is apparent that his comments were not in touch with Kenyan public opinion. As shown in IJReview review:

 A 2007 Pew Global study showed 96% of Kenyans surveyed believe that homosexuality should be rejected. This offers a stark contrast to the 41% of Americans who felt the same way at the time.

Kenya already has it’s own elected president. Please, Mr. President, let’s leave the running of Kenya to those who understand it.