Church of Nigeria disowns Gay Activist
December 30, 2005
Last month in Abuja, a meeting constituting the largest gathering
of lesbian and gay people ever held in Nigeria and the first gathering
of gay Anglicans was held.
Presentations were made by Davis Mac-Iyalla an outspoken gay activist / convener
of the national network who was previously working with the late bishop of Otukpo diocese, the Rt Rev Prof I Ugede., and the Rev Colin Coward, Director of Changing Attitude England.
"I have loved the Anglican Church all my life," Mr. Mac-Iyalla said. "The church leaders can try to claim that we don't exist, but we gay Anglicans of Nigeria will stand up to say we are here."
Davis has always claimed to be part of the Anglican church community, but today The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in Abuja disowned
Davis Mac-Iyalla openly.
The church insisted in
a statement issued yesterday in Abuja that Mac-Iyalla ceased to be a
member of the communion since 2003.
The statement signed by its Director of Communication, Rev. Canon Akintunde Popoola said that results of extensive searches revealed that Mac-Iyalla could not be traced to any particular congregation.
I find this particularly interesting because in the past, issues like this would completely be ignored by the Nigerian media.
For the church to come out and make an open statement which in turn gets published by thisday says something about the changing attitude towards these "sensitive" issues in our society.
read more on this in the gay news weblog