Davis Mac-Iyalla (born 1972 in

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

) is a Nigerian

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

activist. He established the Nigerian wing of the British Changing Attitude organization, which presses for internal reform of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

for further inclusion of Anglican sexual minorities. The son of a wealthy Nigerian Army Colonel, he came out to himself at the age of 14, but his disinterest in dating females was not made apparent to others around him until after two events: the ordination of

Gene Robinson Vicky Gene Robinson (born May 29, 1947) is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson was elected Coadjutor bishop, bishop coadjutor in 2003 and succeeded as bishop diocesan in March 2004. Before becoming bishop, he se ...

as the bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopalian branch, and the death of his mentor, the Bishop Iyobee Ugede of

Otukpo Otukpo is a town in Benue State, Nigeria located in the North Central (Nigeria), Middle Belt Region of Nigeria. It is also the eponymous name of a subgroup of the Idoma people. Otukpo is the headquarters of the Otukpo Local Government Area. It i ...

. He was, in July 2003, fired from his job as the principal of a local Anglican children's school; after this incident, which he believed was due to his being gay, he became an activist and started work with Changing Attitude. He has faced stiff opposition from both the religious elite and their lay constituents in Nigeria, which is a heavily conservative nation in terms of politics. The

church of Nigeria The Church of Nigeria is the Anglicanism, Anglican Church body, church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest Province (Anglican), province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptised membership (not by attendance), after the Church of Englan ...

has issued a disclaimer against Mac-Iyalla on their website. However, Mac-Iyalla has met with the primate of the Nigerian Church,

Peter Akinola Peter Jasper Akinola (born 27 January 1944, in Abeokuta) is the former Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria. He is also the former bishop of Abuja and Archbishop of Province III, which covered the northern and central parts of the country ...

, who is most well known for leading an internal faction of the worldwide communion against welcoming actions towards LGBT Anglicans by the British Anglican and U.S.

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

churches. Mac-Iyalla has ventured to other countries with Anglican communities on speaking tours. An immigration attorney at the offices of Episcopal Migration Ministries in New York advised Davis to seek asylum in the US, but he decided not to proceed with the claim. He has been granted refugee status in the United Kingdom, where he now lives. He has been accused by Nigerian Anglicans as a charlatan who made up his life story, most notably by Canon Akintunde Popoola, but Mac-Iyalla posted photos of his time as a knight of the church during his younger years on the Web.Mr Davis MacIyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Network (Nigeria)

References

External links

Changing Attitude Nigeria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac-Iyalla, Davis 1974 births Living people People from Port Harcourt Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom Nigerian LGBTQ rights activists Activists from Rivers State

See also

References

See also

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