Nigeria's Mac-Iyalla & Bishop Robinson To Appear Together

The following excerpts are from a press release I just received which promotes one of the stops on Davis Mac-Iyalla's current U.S. tour.

When: Tuesday, June 19th at 6:15 PM
Where: Church of the Holy Apostles, 296 Ninth Avenue, at 28th Street in Manhattan

....well known Nigerian Anglican, Davis Mac-Iyalla, 33, will speak out in New York to tell the story of what it is like to be out and gay in Nigeria....Since declaring himself openly gay and founding his country’s only gay rights organization in 2005, Mac-Iyalla has been fired from his job as a school principal, suffered ostracism from family and friends, been arrested, threatened with kidnapping and death, and been libeled by officials of the Anglican Church as well as denied communion.

On Tuesday, June 19th....Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop, will celebrate the Eucharist and preach at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan. Afterwards, Mac-Iyalla will tell his story and answer questions. All are invited.

For years [Mac-Iyalla] was an active and deeply involved member of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, having been accorded the honor of “knight” of the church and having become a lay reader. But all that changed when he revealed that he was gay and began his advocacy of gay and lesbian concerns both within the church and in Nigerian civil society. He has even received threats of torture and death. One anonymous threat suggested that if he did not “repent” he would be kidnapped and bathed in acid....

Davis Mac-Iyalla [recently said] “....the Church should stop colluding with cultural repression and discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people in all parts of the world.”

Davis Mac-Iyalla’s appearance at the Church of Holy Apostles is co-sponsored by Holy Apostles (www.holyapostlesnyc.org) and by WAKE UP, a coalition of Episcopalians who seek a full inclusion Church (www.wakeuptec.org).