It is an awesome blessing when God does something divine to spread the gospel of inclusion across the world. This is exactly what has happened with MCC House of Rainbow, Nigeria. Amid, negative local press and media attacks, God intervened and turned what they meant for evil into good!! Here is the link to watch Reverend Jide and his MCC church of Nigeria on CNN. May God continue to bless them and spread the gospel of his all inclusive love for EVERYONE, LGBT INCLUDED. AMEN :-)
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/07/17/purefoy.nigeria.gay.church.cnn
Nigerian gay affirming church on CNN :-)
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Finally on my feet again after surgery plus bday pics posted here
Hey everyone. Yes, i have been back from Africa for a bit now and thankfully i celebrated my fathers release(pictures now posted under the april news posting from dads release day so you can view them there. We did all the celebrating in our village, zuru village in northern nigeria and the crowds of well wishers were so many that we had to do the festivities in the local stadium! Praise God so most pics are from the stadium and a few are at the village house where we had a dinner party for friends and close family). I was also blessed to celebrate my bday with my family and friends while i was home(this is now back in the city, abuja to be exact and those pics are here with this post). Sadly it took this long to post due to the fact that i was discovered to have fibroid tumors a few days before i was scheduled to go home for the festivities, but ofcourse not wanting tumors to stop me from getting to my dads release party after 9 years of false imprisonment, i left them unattended and went home so on return, it was off to surgery, hospital and recovery for me. Well, thank God, i am perfectly fine and getting stronger each day now. Stayblessed and enjoy the pics :-)
Please Pray for our gay family in Nigeria
Fear Continues To Lurk Among Nigerian Gays
By Lesego Masike on May 28, 2008
http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=nigeria&id=1872
NIGERIA – May 28, 2008: Reverend Jide Macaulay of House of Rainbow, who is gay, fears for his life following death threats he received after Nigeria’s PM News published his picture alongside an article titled ‘Homosexual Act Not Against Bible’.
Written by Samuel Ateba, the story which appeared on PM News’s front page on 12 May followed an exclusive interview that Macaulay had with Mo Abudu’s on A Moment with Mo talk show discussing homosexuality.
The article states that Macaulay admitted to being gay since he was 14 and that he openly declared that he practices sodomy which the Bible is not against.
But Rev Macaulay denies speaking to Ateba, and declared the story incorrect.
“I did not give an interview to the journalist. Two people approached me asking for an interview and my picture [however] I declined”, said Macaulay.
However, editor of PM News, Lanr Babanona, is adamant that the article is true and that the reporter did speak to Macaulay.
“Of course my reporter did speak to him, and I believe that he was only expressing Macaulay’s views in the article.”
Asked if he is aware of homophobic attacks that could be sparked by this article, Babanona said; “Even though their behavior is considered abnormal, the Nigerian society is very accommodative.”
But it appears homophobic responses were echoed after a second article about the Reverend was published by the same publication. Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie described Reverend Macaulay as someone who does not know the Biblical principles.
He further emphasised that “when God created the world, he made them male and female, and asked them to increase and multiply.”
Okogie who expressed his shock to PM News said that he could not believe that “such a comment could be made by a man who claimed to be a man of God.”
The Archbishop advised all religious groups in Nigeria to be “quick in fishing out such fake pastors so that sanity can be guaranteed in Christendom.”
Meanwhile, two Nigerian gay men are presently in hiding after announcing at their engagement ceremony about their intention to wed in June this year.
Rev Macaulay inserts that the number of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people who want to get married is growing but there is no exact number as “many people have private unions.”
Now the couple, including Reverend Jide Macaulay whom they invited to officiate their wedding, are receiving anonymous threats warning them not to go on with the wedding.
The threats, coming from people claiming to be part of the Nigerian police, are now perceived by Macaulay as a threat of violence towards the Nigerian LGBTI community.
According to Macaulay many LGBTI couples in Nigeria “simply wish to exchange vows of commitment and love with their life partners.”
But since the Nigerian government has not authorised same-sex marriages, “many gay and lesbian people get married secretly”, added Macaulay.
He further added that, “same-sex unions won’t be against the government laws of Nigeria since there is no law that bars same-sex unions.”
Officially, there is no law that prevents same-sex unions in Nigeria, but currently there is the Same-sex Marriage Prohibition Bill which has been sitting with the Justice Committee for more than a year now for review.
The Bill, which was introduced by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, forbids LGBTI people from entering into same-sex marriages and also punishes those who aid, preside over or witness such an event.
Macaulay advised that even though a bill legalising homosexuality is not passed, there should be such a bill in place to curb homophobia.
On the other hand, 18 Nigerian men arrested on charges of indecent dressing and vagrancy in August last year are out on bail and due to appear in court on 4 June 2008.
The men aged between 18 and 21 were arrested in Bauchi at Denco Hotel during what seemed to be a same-sex wedding.
But they were since out on bail, and their latest appearance in court in April this year was adjourned.
If found guilty, these 18 gay men will have to face one year imprisonment or thirty lashes.
But the LGBTI activists who have been following on the case intend to seek dismissal of the case due to lack of evidence.
According to Rev Macaulay the LGBTI community of Nigeria is shocked by these incidents.
“The LGBTI community is haunted by these incidents and are afraid to gather but they still have to go on with life”, he concluded.
By Lesego Masike on May 28, 2008
http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=nigeria&id=1872
NIGERIA – May 28, 2008: Reverend Jide Macaulay of House of Rainbow, who is gay, fears for his life following death threats he received after Nigeria’s PM News published his picture alongside an article titled ‘Homosexual Act Not Against Bible’.
Written by Samuel Ateba, the story which appeared on PM News’s front page on 12 May followed an exclusive interview that Macaulay had with Mo Abudu’s on A Moment with Mo talk show discussing homosexuality.
The article states that Macaulay admitted to being gay since he was 14 and that he openly declared that he practices sodomy which the Bible is not against.
But Rev Macaulay denies speaking to Ateba, and declared the story incorrect.
“I did not give an interview to the journalist. Two people approached me asking for an interview and my picture [however] I declined”, said Macaulay.
However, editor of PM News, Lanr Babanona, is adamant that the article is true and that the reporter did speak to Macaulay.
“Of course my reporter did speak to him, and I believe that he was only expressing Macaulay’s views in the article.”
Asked if he is aware of homophobic attacks that could be sparked by this article, Babanona said; “Even though their behavior is considered abnormal, the Nigerian society is very accommodative.”
But it appears homophobic responses were echoed after a second article about the Reverend was published by the same publication. Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie described Reverend Macaulay as someone who does not know the Biblical principles.
He further emphasised that “when God created the world, he made them male and female, and asked them to increase and multiply.”
Okogie who expressed his shock to PM News said that he could not believe that “such a comment could be made by a man who claimed to be a man of God.”
The Archbishop advised all religious groups in Nigeria to be “quick in fishing out such fake pastors so that sanity can be guaranteed in Christendom.”
Meanwhile, two Nigerian gay men are presently in hiding after announcing at their engagement ceremony about their intention to wed in June this year.
Rev Macaulay inserts that the number of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people who want to get married is growing but there is no exact number as “many people have private unions.”
Now the couple, including Reverend Jide Macaulay whom they invited to officiate their wedding, are receiving anonymous threats warning them not to go on with the wedding.
The threats, coming from people claiming to be part of the Nigerian police, are now perceived by Macaulay as a threat of violence towards the Nigerian LGBTI community.
According to Macaulay many LGBTI couples in Nigeria “simply wish to exchange vows of commitment and love with their life partners.”
But since the Nigerian government has not authorised same-sex marriages, “many gay and lesbian people get married secretly”, added Macaulay.
He further added that, “same-sex unions won’t be against the government laws of Nigeria since there is no law that bars same-sex unions.”
Officially, there is no law that prevents same-sex unions in Nigeria, but currently there is the Same-sex Marriage Prohibition Bill which has been sitting with the Justice Committee for more than a year now for review.
The Bill, which was introduced by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, forbids LGBTI people from entering into same-sex marriages and also punishes those who aid, preside over or witness such an event.
Macaulay advised that even though a bill legalising homosexuality is not passed, there should be such a bill in place to curb homophobia.
On the other hand, 18 Nigerian men arrested on charges of indecent dressing and vagrancy in August last year are out on bail and due to appear in court on 4 June 2008.
The men aged between 18 and 21 were arrested in Bauchi at Denco Hotel during what seemed to be a same-sex wedding.
But they were since out on bail, and their latest appearance in court in April this year was adjourned.
If found guilty, these 18 gay men will have to face one year imprisonment or thirty lashes.
But the LGBTI activists who have been following on the case intend to seek dismissal of the case due to lack of evidence.
According to Rev Macaulay the LGBTI community of Nigeria is shocked by these incidents.
“The LGBTI community is haunted by these incidents and are afraid to gather but they still have to go on with life”, he concluded.
More on gay pastor and church in Nigeria
While most churches condemn homosexuality and many African governments ban it outright, a Nigerian minister has set up a ministry for gay Christians in West Africa's largest city, reports WALDIMAR PELSER from Lagos.
THERE are 18 men in northern Nigeria facing 10 years in jail or 120 strokes of the cane in public for dressing up like women at a party last August.
In Senegal, seven men and a woman have been arrested for appearing in pictures taken at a gay party. A member of the Muslim Supreme Council in Uganda has called on gays to be killed and the minister for ethics and integrity insists they should leave the country because of their “strange, ungodly” ways.
It is not popular to be gay in Africa. It is illegal in 32 countries.
But on the outskirts of Lagos a gay minister dressed in a colourful rainbow flag bellows “Hallelujah!” from the pulpit. His ministry, House of Rainbow Church, has become a refuge for about 30 gay Christian men in West Africa’s largest city. Some have lost their jobs, been thrown out by their families and suffered abuse by friends or the police because of who they choose to love.
Reverend Jide Macaulay (42) has gained notoriety in Nigeria by speaking out in the House of Representatives in February last year – barely two months after South Africa passed Africa’s first act legalising gay marriages in December 2006 – against a bill that imposes a prison sentence on anyone who speaks out or forms a group supporting gay people’s rights.
If passed, Nigeria will be one of the most dangerous places in the world to be gay.
Now with a parliamentary committee, Nigeria’s Same Sex Prohibition Bill is not yet law but is “taken to be law” by many Nigerians, including the police, Macaulay says.
“Landlords consider the bill to be law; employers consider it law. People are losing their jobs or the roofs over their heads because there is a bill that says same-sex amorous relationships are prohibited,” says Macaulay.
Last month Michael* (26), a parishioner of the church, spent 10 days in detention at an army barracks in Lagos, forced into hard labour by a family member who carried out a “civilian arrest” when Michael admitted he was gay.
Joseph Akoro (20), who runs an advocacy group for gay rights, says extortion and “direct homophobic attacks” are common. His group, The Independent Project, organises events “amid tight security and always at night, for fear of being attacked”.
Akoro hopes to set up a website to report the abuse of gays and lesbians.
“There is a culture of silence,” says Jude Dibia (33), author of Walking with Shadows, a novel in which the lead character is “outed” by a colleague at work. After his marriage fails, the character leaves Nigeria for London. “When I wrote my book, I got so many messages from gay Nigerians who said ‘Thank you for telling our story’. But there was a backlash from the press, who questioned my sexuality and investigated my personal life.”
Nigerians willing to speak out about gay rights face strong opposition from church groups.
Nigeria’s Archbishop, Peter Akinola (64), has led worldwide opposition to the ordination of gay priests in the US, deepening a rift which some believe could split the Anglican community.
He has called gays “strange, two-in-one humans” and said homosexuality is “an aberration, unknown even in the animal kingdom”.
While countries like Burkina Faso have scrapped sodomy laws, gays in Kenya organise large parties openly on the internet and gay men and women in South Africa have been allowed to adopt children since 2002, Akinola’s message is spreading “ripples of fear” in Nigeria, says Macaulay.
“Peter Akinola is building an army of homophobic people. Religious leaders in Nigeria are very, very powerful people, have large congregations and use television and the airwaves to propagate homophobic messages.”
Movies from Nollywood, as Nigeria’s burgeoning film industry is known, have also addressed gay themes, mostly depicting “lesbian relationships that end tragically”, critic Unoma Azuah writes in the Vanguard newspaper.
In End Times the protagonist is a gay pastor who gets his powers from the devil while in Beautiful Faces a lesbian character is a thief, prostitute and leader of a vicious cult.
“One begins to wonder if it is mere coincidence,” Azuah says.
Prejudice forces gays into hiding and has an unintended affect on sexual health. Macaulay fears the issue of HIV among gay Nigerian men is “not surfacing”. “Most gays are in hiding,” says Macaulay. “Men tell me they are married but also have a lover in a different state. This can have a drastic effect on sexual health. When you have multiple partners and there is secrecy around it or switching boyfriends all the time to avoid being found out, it heightens the chances of transmission.
“It is very difficult to know how many are infected. We do not have the data; we have no information.”
In Senegal, French health group AIDES says the HIV-prevalence rate is about 21.5% in the gay community and 0.7% in the community at large as repressive laws continue to make the outright targeting of gay men and women possible.
Macaulay’s church is one of a handful of Nigerian organisations that offer sexual health counselling for lesbians and gay men while preaching faithfulness and handing out condoms in case the need for use arises.
“Our main vision is to get gay men and women to reconcile their sexuality and their spirituality. The tragedy is that many people cannot do it because of historical interpretations of the scriptures,” says Macaulay.
Armed with books like The Queer Bible Commentary, Homosexuality in the Church and The Lord Is My Shepherd & He Knows I’m Gay , Macaulay is preaching inclusion.
Last month he told an African sexuality conference in Abuja he was an ordained minister and gay. There was surprise and howls of damnation but after he spoke, 200 copies of his Pocket Devotional for gay Christians were snapped up at the door.
“They said ‘How dare you?’ But I cannot live dishonestly to please anybody else. I’m a happy, holy homosexual.”
THERE are 18 men in northern Nigeria facing 10 years in jail or 120 strokes of the cane in public for dressing up like women at a party last August.
In Senegal, seven men and a woman have been arrested for appearing in pictures taken at a gay party. A member of the Muslim Supreme Council in Uganda has called on gays to be killed and the minister for ethics and integrity insists they should leave the country because of their “strange, ungodly” ways.
It is not popular to be gay in Africa. It is illegal in 32 countries.
But on the outskirts of Lagos a gay minister dressed in a colourful rainbow flag bellows “Hallelujah!” from the pulpit. His ministry, House of Rainbow Church, has become a refuge for about 30 gay Christian men in West Africa’s largest city. Some have lost their jobs, been thrown out by their families and suffered abuse by friends or the police because of who they choose to love.
Reverend Jide Macaulay (42) has gained notoriety in Nigeria by speaking out in the House of Representatives in February last year – barely two months after South Africa passed Africa’s first act legalising gay marriages in December 2006 – against a bill that imposes a prison sentence on anyone who speaks out or forms a group supporting gay people’s rights.
If passed, Nigeria will be one of the most dangerous places in the world to be gay.
Now with a parliamentary committee, Nigeria’s Same Sex Prohibition Bill is not yet law but is “taken to be law” by many Nigerians, including the police, Macaulay says.
“Landlords consider the bill to be law; employers consider it law. People are losing their jobs or the roofs over their heads because there is a bill that says same-sex amorous relationships are prohibited,” says Macaulay.
Last month Michael* (26), a parishioner of the church, spent 10 days in detention at an army barracks in Lagos, forced into hard labour by a family member who carried out a “civilian arrest” when Michael admitted he was gay.
Joseph Akoro (20), who runs an advocacy group for gay rights, says extortion and “direct homophobic attacks” are common. His group, The Independent Project, organises events “amid tight security and always at night, for fear of being attacked”.
Akoro hopes to set up a website to report the abuse of gays and lesbians.
“There is a culture of silence,” says Jude Dibia (33), author of Walking with Shadows, a novel in which the lead character is “outed” by a colleague at work. After his marriage fails, the character leaves Nigeria for London. “When I wrote my book, I got so many messages from gay Nigerians who said ‘Thank you for telling our story’. But there was a backlash from the press, who questioned my sexuality and investigated my personal life.”
Nigerians willing to speak out about gay rights face strong opposition from church groups.
Nigeria’s Archbishop, Peter Akinola (64), has led worldwide opposition to the ordination of gay priests in the US, deepening a rift which some believe could split the Anglican community.
He has called gays “strange, two-in-one humans” and said homosexuality is “an aberration, unknown even in the animal kingdom”.
While countries like Burkina Faso have scrapped sodomy laws, gays in Kenya organise large parties openly on the internet and gay men and women in South Africa have been allowed to adopt children since 2002, Akinola’s message is spreading “ripples of fear” in Nigeria, says Macaulay.
“Peter Akinola is building an army of homophobic people. Religious leaders in Nigeria are very, very powerful people, have large congregations and use television and the airwaves to propagate homophobic messages.”
Movies from Nollywood, as Nigeria’s burgeoning film industry is known, have also addressed gay themes, mostly depicting “lesbian relationships that end tragically”, critic Unoma Azuah writes in the Vanguard newspaper.
In End Times the protagonist is a gay pastor who gets his powers from the devil while in Beautiful Faces a lesbian character is a thief, prostitute and leader of a vicious cult.
“One begins to wonder if it is mere coincidence,” Azuah says.
Prejudice forces gays into hiding and has an unintended affect on sexual health. Macaulay fears the issue of HIV among gay Nigerian men is “not surfacing”. “Most gays are in hiding,” says Macaulay. “Men tell me they are married but also have a lover in a different state. This can have a drastic effect on sexual health. When you have multiple partners and there is secrecy around it or switching boyfriends all the time to avoid being found out, it heightens the chances of transmission.
“It is very difficult to know how many are infected. We do not have the data; we have no information.”
In Senegal, French health group AIDES says the HIV-prevalence rate is about 21.5% in the gay community and 0.7% in the community at large as repressive laws continue to make the outright targeting of gay men and women possible.
Macaulay’s church is one of a handful of Nigerian organisations that offer sexual health counselling for lesbians and gay men while preaching faithfulness and handing out condoms in case the need for use arises.
“Our main vision is to get gay men and women to reconcile their sexuality and their spirituality. The tragedy is that many people cannot do it because of historical interpretations of the scriptures,” says Macaulay.
Armed with books like The Queer Bible Commentary, Homosexuality in the Church and The Lord Is My Shepherd & He Knows I’m Gay , Macaulay is preaching inclusion.
Last month he told an African sexuality conference in Abuja he was an ordained minister and gay. There was surprise and howls of damnation but after he spoke, 200 copies of his Pocket Devotional for gay Christians were snapped up at the door.
“They said ‘How dare you?’ But I cannot live dishonestly to please anybody else. I’m a happy, holy homosexual.”
Gay Church and Out pastor in Nigeria!!!
Gay pastor challenges Archbishop Okogie
• Sunday, May 25, 2008
Less than seven days after Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie declared Nigerian gay pastor, Rev. Jide Macaulay an insane person ignorant of biblical principles, the gay pastor has fired back, saying Okogie does not know the Bible.
Okogie, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos had last Sunday said that right from creation, “God made male and female and admonished them to multiply. He did not make them male and male, nor female and female”.
In his reply to Okogie’s comments, Macaulay who heads the House of Rainbow Metropolitan Church in Lagos, with another branch in London said conservative Christians like Okogie do not know the bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The controversial gay pastor said that he is on an enlightenment mission and must supply new and fresh information for Christians in the country to understand.
“We have to be radical against those who are violent toward me. Many citizens of Nigeria including conservative Christians have concluded that homosexuality is a sin. They need new information, education and anointing for wisdom to understand the heart of God for all the people of God”, the homosexual pastor said.
He explained that homosexuality is included in the mysteries of God in the dynamic creation of the human spectrum, and said he is happy to be a gay and servant of God.
“Let us say a few things. Jesus Christ came to the world to die for my sins and not my sexuality. If you fail to love me, then God who made me will love me always. he said.
I have responded honestly with all my heart, to the call of God to be the face and voice of our community Nigeria. I’m sure many people agree with me but refuse to identify because of fear of rejection. All the same, I can understand”, he said.
Rev Macaulay said that there are at the moment 15 million gays and lesbians in the country and called on them to fight for their rights.
“Before we rush into the condemnation of the 15 million sexual minority in Nigeria, we need to think of the people’s rights to be part of the household of God and also how they are to be included as rightful citizens of Nigeria”, he said.
He added, “we get nowhere without a fight, but I believe that fight is righteous for many people that are made to speak out or stand up for their belief”.
Last week in a recorded television show at the City Mall Studio, Onikan, Lagos, the gay pastor had said that he had been a gay since the age of 14.
He said he practices sodomy, the act of having sex with another man through the anus, adding that he is comfortable with it as a gay Christian.
• Sunday, May 25, 2008
Less than seven days after Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie declared Nigerian gay pastor, Rev. Jide Macaulay an insane person ignorant of biblical principles, the gay pastor has fired back, saying Okogie does not know the Bible.
Okogie, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos had last Sunday said that right from creation, “God made male and female and admonished them to multiply. He did not make them male and male, nor female and female”.
In his reply to Okogie’s comments, Macaulay who heads the House of Rainbow Metropolitan Church in Lagos, with another branch in London said conservative Christians like Okogie do not know the bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The controversial gay pastor said that he is on an enlightenment mission and must supply new and fresh information for Christians in the country to understand.
“We have to be radical against those who are violent toward me. Many citizens of Nigeria including conservative Christians have concluded that homosexuality is a sin. They need new information, education and anointing for wisdom to understand the heart of God for all the people of God”, the homosexual pastor said.
He explained that homosexuality is included in the mysteries of God in the dynamic creation of the human spectrum, and said he is happy to be a gay and servant of God.
“Let us say a few things. Jesus Christ came to the world to die for my sins and not my sexuality. If you fail to love me, then God who made me will love me always. he said.
I have responded honestly with all my heart, to the call of God to be the face and voice of our community Nigeria. I’m sure many people agree with me but refuse to identify because of fear of rejection. All the same, I can understand”, he said.
Rev Macaulay said that there are at the moment 15 million gays and lesbians in the country and called on them to fight for their rights.
“Before we rush into the condemnation of the 15 million sexual minority in Nigeria, we need to think of the people’s rights to be part of the household of God and also how they are to be included as rightful citizens of Nigeria”, he said.
He added, “we get nowhere without a fight, but I believe that fight is righteous for many people that are made to speak out or stand up for their belief”.
Last week in a recorded television show at the City Mall Studio, Onikan, Lagos, the gay pastor had said that he had been a gay since the age of 14.
He said he practices sodomy, the act of having sex with another man through the anus, adding that he is comfortable with it as a gay Christian.