Jazz Jennings is the co-founder of the Transkids Purple Rainbow Foundation(Photo: Mark DeLong/TLC)
Heritage of Pride recently announced three Grand Marshals for the 47th NYC Pride March on Sunday, June 26, 2016:
Jazz Jennings is the 15-year-old honorary co-founder of the Transkids Purple Rainbow Foundation and the youngest Grand Marshal in NYC Pride history. Since her first appearance with her family at age 6 on 20/20, Jazz has become one of the nation’s best known voices on the experiences of trans young people. Jazz currently stars in the TLC docu-series I Am Jazz, returning on June 8. Her memoir, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, will be published by Random House Children’s Books and hits bookstores on June 7.
Subhi Nahas is a Syrian refugee who co-founded the first LGBTQ magazine in Syria, Mawaleh. In 2015, Subhi addressed the U.N. Security Council on the plight of LGBTQ people under persecution in his home country. He continues to advocate for LGBT refugees around the world and is currently working with a group of LGBTQ refugees in Turkey, called “Tea and Talk.”
Cecilia Chung is an internationally recognized leader who has been advocating for HIV/AIDS awareness and care, LGBTQ equality, and social justice, for more than 30 years. As a founding producer of the San Francisco Trans March, Cecilia helped organize one of the world’s first and largest annual transgender events, which has since been replicated in cities across the U.S. Chung is a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and is a Senior Strategist for the Transgender Law Center.
“Our 2016 theme, ‘Equality Needs You,’ could not be better reflected than through Jazz, Subhi, and Cecilia,” said Julian Sanjivan, NYC Pride March Director. “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.”
The 47th NYC Pride March will step off at noon on June 26, at 5th Avenue and 36th Street in Manhattan. The route proceeds through Midtown down 5th Avenue, before heading west into Greenwich Village, ending at Christopher and Greenwich Streets. In 2015, an estimated 2 million spectators lined the two-mile route.
