Obama seeks return to civility, calls out Uganda at prayer event

Feb 4, 2010, 17:08 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama on Thursday called for a return to 'civility' in Washington's political establishment and condemned a proposed law in Uganda outlawing homosexuality, during the annual National Prayer Breakfast in the US capital.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who was invited by Obama, defended tolerance, freedom and the integration of minorities during his own speech before the gathering attended by government officials, lawmakers and foreign diplomats.

The prayer breakfast has drawn some controversy this year over the event's long-time sponsor, a secretive conservative Christian religious group known as The Fellowship Foundation or 'The Family.'

A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), called on politicians to boycott the breakfast, accusing the Fellowship of being involved in a proposal before Uganda's legislature that would jail and even execute homosexuals.

Gay rights groups organized rival prayer events in 17 US cities on Thursday in protest.

'It is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are,' said Obama, who followed in a long line of presidents attending the event since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. Obama called the legislation in Uganda an 'odious law.' Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also condemned the Ugandan legislation.

Despite Obama's criticism, Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said she was 'disappointed' that high-ranking US government officials had chosen to attend the event. The Spanish public should also look at Zapatero's decision to be 'at the table ... with people who would want to kill gay people.'

'I do find it ironic that (Zapatero) would attend, given that Spain has taken a remarkably progressive view on gay marriage,' Sloan told the German Press Agency dpa.

Obama also used the opportunity to call on Republicans and Democrats to engage in a more civil discourse and work together to solve a series of crises facing the country.

'We need to find our way back to civility. That begins with stepping out of our comfort zones in an effort to bridge divisions,' Obama said.

His comments came as Republican Scott Brown was due to be sworn in Thursday afternoon in the US Senate. Brown's shock victory in a special election in Massachusetts last month robbed Obama's Democratic Party of their super-majority in the legislative chamber.