BBC Radio World Service with Revd Rowland Jide Macaulay

"A BBC Radio World Service Interview with Rev Jide

Click Here to listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p008grqh "

Broadcasts
Wed 7 Jul 201012:32BBC World Service.Wed 7 Jul 201016:32BBC World Service.Thu 8 Jul 201000:32BBC World Service.Thu 8 Jul 201004:32BBC World Service.Sat 10 Jul 201005:32BBC World Service.Sat 10 Jul 201020:05BBC World Service.Sun 11 Jul 201002:05BBC World Service.Sun 11 Jul 201011:32BBC World Service.Sun 11 Jul 201023:05BBC World Service

Jide Macaulay was born into a devout Pentecostal Christian family in Lagos, Nigeria. His father is a well-known theologian.

As a child, Jide loved church more than playing with his friends.

But around the age of 11, he began to become aware that he was different from other boys.

Much to his horror, he realised that he was gay.

In conversation with Michael Ford, Jide recalls the inner conflicts he went through as a teenager and a young man, in a country where it is almost inconceivable that anyone can be both a committed Christian and homosexual.

We hear how he learnt to embrace his orientation after a failed marriage.

Leaving behind the deep shame he had felt, he founded a church for gay and lesbian people in Lagos: the House of Rainbow.

Driven out of the country by death threats, Jide now continues his ministry to African gay and lesbian Christians from his home in London, through a vibrant "virtual" church. He has become a well-known voice in Africa and beyond.