Actor Jonathan Groff, actress-activist
Laverne Cox and gay rights activist Rea Carey will serve as grand
marshals of New York City Pride, Heritage Pride, the group that
organizes the annual Gay Pride parade, announced this week.
“Our 2014 marshals are leaders in
brilliant forms of activism through which LGBT people and their
allies engage,” David Studinksi, march director for NYC Pride, said
in a statement. “Individually, they represent the diversity
within the LGBT community and the various struggles our community
members have and continue to face. Collectively, their stories
reinforce that no voice is too small nor weak to make change in our
world – and it starts with being yourself.”
Groff, who is openly gay, is best known
for his television roles on Fox's
Glee, Starz's Boss
and HBO's Looking. He
also appears in next month's AIDS drama The Normal Heart.
(Related:
HBO
releases full trailer for AIDS drama Normal
Heart.)
Cox, a
transgender woman who portrays a transgender inmate in Netflix's
Orange is the New Black,
was recently honored
by GLAAD for her activism.
Carey
is the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
America's
largest Gay Pride parade steps off at noon on Sunday, June 29.