article_snippet: A couple of weeks ago, during a trip to the Middle East, I had the unexpected good fortune to meet someone I have admired for many years: the Liberian President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
article_snippet: Moments later, I received a reply (since deleted) from a Twitter connection informing me that Sirleaf has a dismal record on gay rights and had very publicly announced Hillary Clinton would refuse to sign a bill to end prison sentences for gay Liberians.
article_snippet: Should we ignore the fact that Sirleaf became the first woman to be democratically elected president in all of Africa, taking over a country racked by a brutal civil war and guiding it toward a better future; inspiring Africans to fight against corruption, showing women everywhere that women can make a difference?
article_snippet: Or should we ignore their deliberate blind spots on politically inconvenient issues, even if their concern human rights, which were supposed to stand at the core of what drove these leaders?
article_snippet: Mahatma Gandi and Nelson Mandela were terrible fathers.
highlights_snippet: Leaders like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Aung San Suu Kyi are admirable, but not perfect .