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.

[27] Davis was the inductee representing 1972, the year she became the first openly gay delegate to a major party's national convention.

[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.