GREENWICH VILLAGE — This year's NYC Pride march will be led by a trio of actors and activists including Laverne Cox of Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black," officials announced Tuesday.
Cox plays a transgender prisoner on the show, and is trans herself. She recently brought attention to issues with the way media treats transgender subjects, when she tried to convince Katie Couric during an interview not to focus so heavily on the physical part of her identity.
"That preoccupation…objectifies trans people and then we don't get to deal with the real lived experiences," Cox said in the interview with Couric.
NYC Pride organizers hope this year's marshals will reflect the experiences of the diverse group that comprises the LGBT community.
Cox will lead the march alongside Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and actor Jonathan Groff, one of the stars of the upcoming HBO movie "The Normal Heart."
“Individually, they represent the diversity within the LGBT community and the various struggles our community members have and continue to face," March Director David Studinski said in a statement.
Cox, Carey and Groff will ride in convertibles along the parade route from 36th Street and Fifth Avenue down to the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street.
The event commemorates the Stonewall riots 45 years ago. While it's commonly called the Pride Parade by New Yorkers, the organizers purposely refer to it as a "march" instead.
"The reason we call it a march and not a parade is because we still have a ways to go till equality," Jim Williams, assistant director of the march, told DNAinfo New York.
The 2014 NYC Pride theme is “We Have Won When We’re One," in a nod to the progress that has been made, Williams said, while also noting that there is work still to be done.
The 2014 NYC Pride march starts at noon on Sunday, June 29. Registration for interested groups is open
through June 7, subject to availability.
