Laverne Cox, Jonathon Groff, and Rea Carey have been given the honor of being named the Grand Marshals for the 2014 New York City Pride Parade on June 29th.
Heritage of Pride, organizers of NYC Pride and the annual New York City March, announced the Grand Marshals for 2014. This year’s marshals are Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Transgender activist and actress Laverne Cox; and Broadway, film, and television actor Jonathan Groff.
Rea Carey is one of the most prominent leaders in the U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights movement. Carey, who came to the Task Force in 2004 as deputy executive director, has served as executive director since 2008.
Through her leadership, Carey has advanced a vision of fairness and justice for LGBT people and their families that is broad, inclusive and unabashedly progressive.
Laverne Cox is a critically acclaimed actress who can be seen in the Netflix original series “Orange is The New Black” where she plays the ground breaking role of Sophia Burset, an incarcerated African American, transgender woman. Laverne is the first trans woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show.
Laverne is currently working on her first memoir that will chronicle her personal journey from a misunderstood and socially unaccepted child to an acclaimed actress, speaker and advocate for the LGBTQ community.
Jonathon Groff is equally versatile on stage and screen. He currently stars as Patrick, a young video game designer, in the hit HBO television series, Looking. Jonathan will next be seen in the HBO telefilm, The Normal Heart, which was adapted from the award-winning play by Larry Kramer and chronicles a gay activist who attempts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness during the early 1980s.
Groff most recently voiced the character of Kristoff in Walt Disney Pictures’ Academy Award-winning animated comedy-adventure, Frozen.
“Our 2014 marshals are leaders in brilliant forms of activism through which LGBT people and their allies engage.” Said March Director David Studinski. “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.”
The March, the largest in the United States, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots, widely known as the birthplace of the LGBT equality movement. The 2014 March will honor the 45th anniversary of the Riots.
Celebrating great progress, while acknowledging ongoing equality-seeking efforts in the U.S. and world, the 2014 NYC Pride theme is “We Have Won When We’re One”.
“Each year our marshals share a piece of their lives with every single person cheering along the March route,” said Media Director Tish Flynn. “Their efforts reach beyond those along Fifth Avenue, to countless other across the globe who continue to face oppression.”
The marshals will ride convertibles along the two-mile route, which begins in the caverns of Midtown Manhattan at 36th street and Fifth Avenue. The March proceeds downtown via Fifth Avenue, turning west along 8th Street into the West Village until a sharp turn onto Christopher Street at Sixth Avenue. Marchers continue down Christopher Street, past The Stonewall Inn, until the route disperses at Greenwich Street.
The 2014 March steps off at noon on Sunday, June 29. Registration for interested groups is open through June 7, subject to availability.