[1] In 1970 she was a founding member of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier, the first gay rights organization in Western New York.

Madeline Davis was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 7, 1940,[3] to a factory worker at Ford Motor plant and a homemaker, Harriet, who had attended nursing school.

[4] She graduated from Bennett High School in 1958[3] and earned a college scholarship, where she got a job working as a page at Lockwood.

[3] She began by organizing a library for the group but, lacking publications, she and other members ended up creating Fifth Freedom, the earliest magazine for the LGBT community in western New York.

[5] In the 1970s, Davis organized "Legislative Night", at which local candidates for public office, for the first time in Buffalo political history, answered questions and sought endorsements.

[5] As part of the Political Action Committee of Mattachine, she confronted the Buffalo Vice Squad on the issue of entrapment and gay bar raids.

[5] Davis published numerous journal and magazine articles on sexuality and women's history, as well as short stories and poetry.

[22][23] Retired in 1995 from her day job as a chief conservator[17] and head of preservation in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System,[7] Davis worked as a writer, archivist, historian, political activist, and director of the archives.

[7] Davis continued to be involved in politics, and served as the vice president for community liaison for Stonewall Democrats.

[3] Following her 1971 speech at the gay rights march in Albany, Davis wrote a poem titled, "From the Steps of the Capitol, 1971" as well as a song "Stonewall Nation" on the way home, inspired by the protest crowd.

[7] In the early 2000s, she continued to perform on djembe, conga, and other Afro-Caribbean instruments with the percussion group, Drawing Down the Moon.

[7] In 1971 Davis wrote, directed and produced Liberella, a feminist comedy reimagining Cinderella ran away with the fairy godmother.

[3] In 1995, Davis and Wendy Smiley married at Temple Beth Zion in the first same-sex marriage performed in the Buffalo Jewish Community.