Prayer And Praise in London 6th May, 630pm

Prayer And Praise in London 6th May 2010 @ House Of Rainbow Fellowship, 6.30pm, call 0208558 3485 or 07507510357 for more info, visit www.houseofrainbow.org

House Of Rainbow at the Gay Film Festival

HOUSE OF RAINBOW AT THE LONDON GAY FILM FESTIVAL

Diary Of UK Events with Rev Jide Macaulay Feb/Mar 2010

Diary of UK Events with Rev Jide Macaulay

February/March 2010.

a) 20th February 2010 @2-6pm
William Morris LGBT Forum, Unity Hall Bramley Close London E17.



b) 24th February 2010, @10.30am
Open Discussion with Rev Jide Macaulay
Care Quality Commission
Finsbury Tower
103-105 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8TG

www.cqc.org.uk

AND

LAUNCH OF ILGA INTERACTIVE WEBSITE @ 2pm
The Auditorium
BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street
London EC1A 7AJ

c) 25th February 2010, @6.30pm
Trafficking of African Children to the UK
Attlee Suite in Portcullis House
House Of Common SW1

d) 27th February 2010, 12noon to 4pm
Hate Crime Awareness and Reporting Event
Walthamstow Town Square London E17

AND

St Barnabas Church Cultural Evening @6pm
Foster Hall
St Barnabas Road London E17

e) 28th February 2010, @4-8pm
GAY Africa, Free Word Centre Farringdon
60 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3GA


f) 1st March 2010, @7pm
Meet Rev Elder Diane Fisher the Regional Elder for Region 4,
Metropolitan Community Church of South London


g) 4th March 2010, @6.30-8pm
House Of Rainbow Monthly Fellowship





h) 21st March 2010, @4.50pm. The House Of Rainbow at the
24th BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

Homosexuality in Nigeria By the Economist

Homosexuality in Nigeria

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15503420

Go online if you're glad to be gay
One church’s answer to rampant homophobia
Feb 11th 2010 | LAGOS | From The Economist print edition

ONCE a fortnight, 50 or so Nigerians furtively log on for an online Bible study class. “This is the only way we can worship because of the stigma,” says one of them. The reason for the secrecy is that the participants, ranging from students to married men, are gay. To go to a mainstream church in Nigeria would risk beatings or even a forced exorcism. So hundreds are turning to House of Rainbow, Nigeria’s only gay-friendly church, which is flourishing online after almost meeting a violent end two years ago.

Many Nigerians strongly disapprove of homosexuality. The dominant role of religion is widely seen as the root of the country’s homophobic culture. Punishing gays is one of the few common themes that politicians can promote with equal zest in the mainly Christian south and the largely Muslim north. Under federal law sodomy is punishable by a 14-year jail sentence. An even more stringent bill to ban gay-rights groups and homosexual displays of affection is also under consideration.

It is a similar story in many other parts of Africa. Uganda, influenced by evangelical Christianity, has provoked an international outcry over a still harsher bill that advocates the death penalty in certain cases of gay sex, for instance when one partner is HIV-positive. Barack Obama recently called the bill “odious”. In Malawi two men have gone on trial for gross indecency after holding a “traditional engagement ceremony”. The judge refused bail on the grounds that their release might provoke mob violence.

The founder of House of Rainbow, Rowland Jide Macaulay, a gay Nigerian pastor, knows all about anti-gay intimidation. Two years after he set up his church in Lagos in 2006, the project was brought to a halt. Members of his congregation had been beaten and sometimes raped as they left Sunday services in order—said their assailants—to “correct their sexuality”. After receiving death threats Mr Macaulay fled to Britain, from where he now preaches via YouTube.

Undaunted, he is now seeking funds in the West. He wants to start hairdressing and fashion courses to complement Bible study. The exclusion of gays from Nigeria’s mainstream churches can limit their educational chances. Mosques and churches often perform the duties of a state that has all but collapsed in many parts of the country. Muslim movements such as Izala build schools in the north, while Pentecostal groups have set up universities in the south. As Anthony, a 27-year-old bisexual living in Lagos, says: “In Nigeria the church is not just about a spiritual lift...they run our [social] services. If they say ‘We don’t want you’, where do you go?”

Archbishop Says Sorry to Gays

Archbishop Says Sorry to Gays

Gay Africa Events in London

Gay Africa Events in London