An Evening with gay Nigerian activist Davis Mac-Iyalla

Davis was recently freed from UK detention.

Davis Mac-Iyalla, 35, is founder and director of the country's only gay-rights organization, Changing Attitude-Nigeria, which advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the Anglican Church and elsewhere in Nigeria.

This evening, from last year, was held at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland.

The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which includes 80 million members in 154 countries. In 2003, the Episcopal Church consecrated the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola has been a leading critic against the ordination of gay bishops and the inclusion of GLBT persons in the life of the church.

Mac-Iyalla is a leading voice fighting a proposed bill in his country that would make it illegal for gays to organize, meet in public, or even visit a GLBT website. He has received numerous death threats for his activism, has been fired from his job as a school principal, and forced to live in exile in a neighboring country in West Africa. Prior to declaring his homosexuality, he was an active member of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

In May 2007, he convened a meeting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists from seven West African countries, for the first regional conference of its kind. He toured 20 US cities, and he addressed the executive council of the Episcopal Church about the dangers faced by GLBT Nigerians.