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Zimbabwe’s Mugabe says he’ll propose to Obama now that same-sex marriage is legal

WATCH ABOVE: President Obama says the Supreme Court’s ruling approving same-sex marriage in all 50 states reaffirms that all Americans should be treated equally regardless of who they are or who they love.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe had a special message for his U.S. counterpart in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage last week — a proposal.

The 91-year-old dictator, one of Africa’s longest-ruling leaders, reportedly said he’d travel to Washington, D.C. and pop the question to U.S. President Barack Obama.

READ MORE: Gay couples wed on historic day, as some conservatives still resist

“I’ve just concluded since President Obama endorses the same-sex marriage, advocates homosexual people and enjoys an attractive countenance thus if it becomes necessary, I shall travel to Washington, D.C. , get down on my knee, and ask his [Obama’s] hand,” website ZimEye reported Mugabe saying in an interview with state broadcaster ZBC on Saturday.
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Of course it was a jab at the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage across all 50 states and making the U.S. the 20th country where gays and lesbians can wed. Among those nations is Zimbabwe’s neighbour South Africa, which is the only country on the African continent where same-sex marriage is legal.

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READ MORE: The Supreme Court just legalized gay marriage. Now what?

“I can’t understand how [these] people dare to defy Christ’s explicit orders as our Lord prohibited mankind from sodomy,” Mugabe said in the interview.

Mugabe has in the past referred to gays as “inhuman” and “worse than pigs and dogs.”

He has also decried the U.S. rolling back aid to countries that have anti-gay laws and has shown support for countries such as Uganda that have sought to put draconian bans against homosexuality on their books.

READ MORE: Final paragraph of SCOTUS same-sex marriage decision goes viral

Mugabe said in a 2014 interview he only recently learned there were lesbians and gays in Zimbabwe.

Africa has 34 countries anti-gay laws, although some countries don’t enforce the laws. In some cases, alleged homosexual acts are punished with lengthy prison sentences or even death — as is the case with Sudan, Mauritania and Nigeria.

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There has been some progress for gay rights in Africa lately. On Monday, Mozambique officially decriminalized homosexuality, following the update of its penal code that dated back to the Portuguese colonial era.

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