NYC Pride grand marshal Peppermint says this year’s focus must include trans people’s humanity

Peppermint, the trailblazing performer and transgender advocate, will serve as a grand marshal for the 2026 New York City Pride March, organizers announced Wednesday. The role puts the RuPaul’s Drag Race alum at the forefront of one of the world's largest LGBTQ+ demonstrations amid escalating political attacks.

Her selection comes as Pride events across the country happen amid mounting legislative restrictions and cultural backlash targeting LGBTQ+ communities, particularly trans Americans. So far, in 2026, Republicans have introduced at least 517 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I hope that my involvement in Pride will uplift anyone," Peppermint told The Advocate in an exclusive interview, recalling her first experience attending New York City’s Pride celebration years ago. "I just remember feeling that this is our day, this is our time, this is our community."

As a grand marshal, Peppermint will help lead the NYC Pride March on June 28, an event that draws millions each year and has long served as both celebration and protest. According to organizers, this year’s theme, "For All of Us," is a call not only for LGBTQ+ unity but also for broader public support, centering the voices of those most marginalized, particularly Black trans women, who have been at the forefront of the movement since the Stonewall Uprising.

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Across the United States, lawmakers have advanced restrictions on gender-affirming care, transgender participation in sports, and legal recognition of gender identity. Peppermint described the current climate as an "all-out assault" on trans people, pointing to a wave of policies she said aim to marginalize and restrict the basic contours of daily life. The Supreme Court is awaiting decisions this term on cases that could shape transgender rights for a generation, including Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., which challenge state bans on transgender student athletes competing in sports consistent with their gender identity, with decisions expected by late June.

The Court last term ruled 6-3 in Skrmetti v. U.S. that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors does not illegally discriminate on the basis of sex. On Trans Day of Visibility this year, the court ruled in Chiles v. Salazar that Colorado’s law banning so-called “conversion therapy” was unconstitutional, not because the practice is dangerous, but because the law was not written to be “viewpoint neutral.”

Resistance, Peppermint said, is especially urgent now. She said the legislative assault on trans people by Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration is creating a dangerous situation.

“The conditions that lead to something as horrific as people being killed or mass murdered — those conditions don’t just drop out of nowhere,” she said. “You have to disenfranchise those people. You have to demonize those people. You have to dehumanize those people.”

She pointed to warnings that the current wave of policies sets the conditions for genocide.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, a nonprofit focused on genocide prevention, has issued three successive "Red Flag Alerts" warning about anti-trans policies in the United States, noting that 2025 was the sixth consecutive record-breaking year for the number of anti-trans bills considered across the country, with a 45 percent increase in bills between 2024 and 2025. The institute's executive director and founder, Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, has described the U.S. as being in the "early-to-mid stages of a genocidal process" against trans, nonbinary, and intersex people.

Peppermint rose to international prominence as the first out trans contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race, where she finished runner-up in Season 9. She went on to make Broadway history as the first out trans woman to originate a principal role in a musical, starring as Pythio in Head Over Heels. She also serves on GLAAD’s Board of Directors and was the first-ever ACLU Artist Ambassador for Trans Justice.

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But she described Pride less as a symbolic honor and more as a call to action, particularly for allies.

"This is a space for you to exercise your political queerness," she said, urging supporters to show up, engage, and push back against systems that continue to marginalize LGBTQ+ people.

Peppermint also drew a direct line between today's political climate and the origins of Pride in protest, noting that early LGBTQ+ uprisings were sparked by government and law enforcement targeting the most marginalized in the community.

"That's what we're seeing happen today with the trans community," she said, "pushing us into the margins."

The tensions are playing out not only in policy but in culture. Peppermint pointed to the rise of drag bans in recent years as an early warning sign of broader attacks on gender expression, a shift she said has since escalated into more explicit, more targeted anti-trans measures.

"Attacking drag was the shortcut to getting to trans issues," she said. "And now they’ve gotten so bold that it's directly anti-trans."

She also raised alarms about the erosion of financial support for LGBTQ+ cultural institutions, from reduced corporate sponsorships following the backlash campaigns of 2023 to declining public funding for Pride events and queer performers.

"We are in a really precarious situation," she said, noting that many Pride organizations now have fewer resources to compensate queer artists and sustain programming.

Even so, Peppermint said Pride remains a space for both resistance and joy, a dual legacy she hopes to carry as she helps lead this year's march.

"We all need some joy and celebration," she said, "but it's also an opportunity to really challenge the systems that still hold us back."