Qualiasoup points out that what a leader says isn't necessarily moral, nor what the majority of people at a particular point think.
Are there absolute morals? If there are we don't necessarily know them. Gay people have been badly treated even in societies which have now come to understand the harm they did, and have put that right, with equality and non-discrimination policies, or are doing so.
In Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Russia their leaders have massive problems - getting condemnation from outside plays in to their hands, it's what they want, to distract from all the economic and social problems they have, which threaten the leadership. People in those countries will feel they are under attack and become nationalistic, defending their country (a natural reaction), and unfortunately that is associated with defending the leader of that country. Throw in religion - the root cause of homophobia - and you've got a load of people defending laws which are immoral. US Evangelicals are the root cause of this wave of hysterical homophobia sweeping Africa and Russia. Scott Lively has said that he has been to these countries and encouraged them to legislate against LGBT rights.
Many Africans have such poor knowledge of the Bible, as do many religious believers in the West, that they still think Sodom and Gomorrah is a story about [their] god destroying cities because of homosexualtiy.
http://hoperemains.webs.com/sodomandgomorrah.htm
When you look at the comments sections on African news / comment web sites you often see highly erroneous views about scripture, and it appears these can only have come from Anglican and Catholic clergy - who are either thick and stupid, or have an agenda. The Internet is full of detailed explanations from academic scholars refuting these warped interpretations.
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