Transgender activist Jazz Jennings,
Syrian LGBT activist Subhi Nahas and HIV/AIDS activist Cecilia Chung
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 2016 theme, 'Equality Needs
You,' could not be better reflected than through Jazz, Subhi and
Cecilia,” Julian Sanjivan, march director for NYC Pride, said in a
press release. “In a post-marriage equality America, these leaders
are ensuring that the barriers to LGBT people achieving true legal,
health and social equality are being broken down.”
At 15, Jennings is the youngest grand
marshal in NYC Pride history. She and her family began talking
publicly about her gender identity at the age of 6. Her life as a
transgender teen is the subject of the TLC docu-series I Am Jazz.
Nahas is a Syrian refugee who advocates
for LGBT refugees. He co-founded the first LGBT magazine in Syria,
Mawaleh.
Chung has advocated for HIV/AIDS
awareness and LGBT equality for more than 30 years. She helped
organize the San Francisco Trans March, one of the world's first and
largest annual transgender events.
She is a member of the Presidential
Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and is a senior strategist at the
Transgender Law Center.
America's largest
Gay Pride parade steps off at noon on Sunday, June 26.