Posted by By ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Abuja on
You may turn your nose up in scorn or shrug in shock. But it's real: Gays and lesbians are not only here , they have vowed to establish a firm foothold in the country, daring anyone to stop them if he can.
You may turn your nose up in scorn or shrug in shock. But it's real: Gays and lesbians are not only here , they have vowed to establish a firm foothold in the country, daring anyone to stop them if he can.
The group recently held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Nigeria, under the auspices of Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN), an affirmation of guys and lesbians in the Anglican Communion CAN. It is headed by Mr. Davies Mac-Iyalla.
The AGM
It was a three-day event, beginning from Friday, November 25, to Sunday, November 27, 2005. According to the CAN director, the meeting was aimed at devising strategies that would enable them create the necessary impact within the Nigerian society as members of the same society.
The meeting which started with normal Christian prayer, with all those present bowing their, heads was followed immediately with a hymn.
Composition of the gathering
The group comprised mainly young men and women. Some even came in exotic cars, while a few rode on "Okada (commercial vehicle)." Majority of them were simply dressed in jeans trousers. They wore jeans and T-shirts, while others simply put on a shirt on a jeans.
They welcomed one another with a hug and even sometimes with a kiss. Some even felt excited at the sight of any of their long lost loved ones. In fact, the same way a boy would welcome his lover-girl, was the same way they welcomed one another.
They all felt excited about the meeting and praised Mr. Mac-Iyalla for putting the event together, a meeting that gave them the opportunity, for the first time, to converge at a venue.
Membership were drawn from all parts of the country; Lagos, Ibadan, Calabar, Enugu, Jos, North, Port Harcourt, FCT etc.
Prominent among those who attended are: Dare Odumoye, Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Rights, Mr. Okey, President of Support Project in Nigeria (SPIN) and Mr. Bisi Alimi, the first gay to appear on the National Television Authority (NTA) network programme, to publicize his sexuality. Alliance Rights and SPIN are all NGOs, working for gays and lesbians in Nigeria.
Mac-Iyalla delivers his address
He started his address by expressing surprise at the number of those who responded to the clarion call to attend the meeting. He claimed that he had budgeted for just 120 people. But from Daily Sun's estimation, those who attended the meeting were about a thousand.
Mac-Iyalla went further to say that if he had caved in to pressures from some members to hold the meeting at the night, he was sure that the attendance would have been more than a thousand.
And true to his words, during the dinner party which came up in the night after the Saturday meeting, those in attendance were well over a thousand.
He disclosed during the meeting that he refused to concede to the pressure to hold the meeting at night because they are not "the people of the dark," adding that Archbishop Akinola was not a better Christian than any of them.
While arguing that gays and lesbians are called by God to express their sexuality in "loving, faithful and committed relationship," the CAN director further said prejudice against them in the church was tantamount to racism or prejudice against women, and declared that they would no longer accept it.
"W are creating a group of lesbian and gay Anglican Church members, lay and ordained, who are prepared to be open and visible within the church, meeting together to develop ideas, aims, and strategies.
"Therefore, the church should stop colluding with cultural repression and discrimination against lesbians, gay and bisexual people in all parts of the world," Mac-Iyalla added.
Goodwill messages
At the meeting, several goodwill messages poured in from all over the world to identify with and encourage the group. But the one that caught the attention of Daily Sun was the one from the gay Bishop, Rt.Rev. Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire. The message reads: "Greetings to all of you in the name of Jesus Christ! Oh, how I long to be with you as you gather for your first meeting. If I were there, I would tell you how much I admire and respect you. I would tell you what an honour it is to be your brother-in-Christ. And I would remind you of what you have come to know - that as Christians, who also happen to be gay men and lesbians, you are loved by God beyond your wildest imagining.