Gay Marriage: Cote d’Ivoire will stick to its laws, traditions – Ouattara

The country was granted a N9.5 million to fight against discrimination against gays.

The Ivorian president, Alassane Ouattara, has said that the country will strictly follow its laws and tradition on the issue of gay marriage.

A statement from the presidency quoted Mr. Ouattara as saying this while interacting with Ivorians in Kohogo at the end of his one-week official visit to the Savannah region in the northern part of the country on Monday.

“I do not have much comments to make on this issue; we have laws in Cote d’Ivoire, we have traditions too; we will stick to them,’’ the statement quoted him as saying.

Mr. Ouattara’s statement is coming after the French Embassy in Cote d’Ivoire gave a CFA 30 million (N9.5 million) grant to a non-governmental organisation to fight against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Some ordinary Ivorians expressed concern over the grant, viewing it as a move to support same sex marriage and homo-sexuality.

The Ivorian Minister of Public Service, Gnamiem Konan, recently described gay marriage as “purely un-African.”

He said it was unreasonable for people of the same sex to think of marriage since it could not lead to procreation.

“Gay marriage is an aberration, it is a radical deviation from our moral and cultural values as a people,” he said.

(NAN)