"I would take 50 gay bishops over a church that denies the need for Jesus," he said.
The church in Nigeria, with about 17 million members, has helped lead the objections to a gay bishop.
A day earlier, they approved the election of the church's first openly gay bishop.
They are expected to debate the acceptability of openly gay bishops in their church.
They're welcome to those Anglicans who are against women priests and gay bishops.
That report called for a moratorium on electing gay bishops.
There have been documented cases of other openly gay Anglican bishops, however.
While Tutu and others like him can't understand what the fuss over the gay bishop is, let me explain it this way.
They say there have been gay bishops before but none who made their sexual orientation known before being elected.
For members long opposed to the ordination of women, a gay bishop was the end of the road.