Retired Emeritus Archbishops Desmond Tutu and Njongonkulu Ndungane have called for all Anglican churches to recognise gay and lesbian communities. SABC News reported that the two archbishops proclaimed that sexuality was not a matter of choice while speaking at the funeral of the former Dean of St George’s Cathedral, Father Rowan Smith, who was openly gay.

Grace F. Lawrence the first and only openly known transgender woman from Monrovia, Liberia in West Africa has been named the 2018 Sacramento Pride Grand Marshal. Grace got her Asylum in the United States in 2007 under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.