Why Robert Mugabe just shouted "We are not gays" in his UN speech

Robert Mugabe, the 91-year-old leader of Zimbabwe, deviated slightly from his prepared remarks, during his Monday evening address to the United Nations General Assembly, to do something that he does frequently: slur against homosexuality. "We are not gays," he shouted.

Mugabe made the comment in the course of a point about "double-standards," which is usually dictator code for "I'm tired of Western countries telling me what to do," and about "new rights."

Here's the full quote, with the line he added at the podium in bold:

Respecting and upholding human rights is the obligation of all states, and is enshrined in the United Nations charter. Nowhere does the charter abrogate the right to some to sit in judgment over others, in carrying out this universal obligation. In that regard, we reject the politicization of this important issue and the application of double standards to victimize those who dare think and act independently of the self-anointed prefects of our time.
We equally reject attempts to prescribe "new rights" that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions, and beliefs. We are not gays! Cooperation and respect for each other will advance the cause of human rights worldwide. Confrontation, vilification, and double-standards will not.

Mugabe barked the line, which drew audible laughter from the attendees at the United Nations General Assembly.

The Zimbabwean dictator has made intolerance of homosexuality official policy for years, and has frequently couched this in criticism of Western countries (which have sanctioned Mugabe for his human rights record), sometimes saying that Western leaders wish to impose not just acceptance of LGBT rights but homosexuality itself on Zimbabweans or Africans generally. Hence his declaration that "We are not gays."

"Then we have this American president, Obama, born of an African father, who is saying we will not give you aid if you don’t embrace homosexuality," Mugabe said in July 2013. "We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality. John and John, no; Maria and Maria, no."

As gay rights are generally getting accepted in much of the world, they're getting worse in a handful of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A 2013 Amnesty International report detailed worsening and dangerous homosexual intolerance across much of the continent. This is not uniform to the continent, of course, and some countries such as South Africa have positive and improving acceptance for homosexuals.