New York City Pride Parade 2018: Billie Jean King, Bobby Berk, Other Celebrities Attending

Thousands of people in New York City will show up Sunday afternoon for the annual Pride Parade that's set to run a new route, along 7th and 5th avenues in the city. The spectators will be there to celebrate and to see members of the LGBTQ community take part in the parade on floats and marching the streets of New York.

Every year the parade has floats for organizations, pop culture icons, musicians, actors and influential community members. For the 2018 parade, there are four grand marshals for NYC Pride. Those grand marshals include tennis legend Billie Jean King, Lambda Legal firm that focuses on LGBTQ rights, activist and writer Tyler Ford and Kenita Placide who is also an activist.

The new route starts downtown and heads past the Stonewall Inn and the makes its way uptown. The Stonewall Inn is has great significance for the parade as it's one of the places pride honors each year. The riots that took place at the Inn in 1969 are credited with birthing the modern LGBTQ movement.

In addition to the grand marshals, there are a number of celebrities expected to be at the parade including some athletes. Harrison Browne, the former National Women's Hockey League athlete and first out transgender athlete in professional hockey is expected to march Sunday, according to The Athletic. The NFL and the MLB also have representatives who plan to march Sunday. Ryan O'Callaghan of the NFL is expected to march as is the MLB's Billy Bean, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Bobby Berk from Netflix's Queer Eye will be at the parade on the Lyft float. He is set to officiate three weddings during the parade for three lucky couples, People reported. Berk's co-star, Jonathan Van Ness, is collaborating with Smirnoff vodka during pride to promote pride-theme vodka and though it was not confirmed whether he would be at pride Sunday, he was in New York Friday, according to his social media posts.

The parade is set to start at noon Sunday and last several hours as it makes its way uptown with floats and marchers. Past parades have featured politicians, like the Mayor Bill de Blasio, and other stars like the cast members of the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black. Other events during pride this year will feature musical artists like Tove Lo and Lizzo.

NYC Pride did not immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comment on who would be attending the parade Sunday.

de blasio pride parade
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio walks alongside parade-goers as they make their way down 5th Avenue during the NYC Pride March on June 25, 2017. Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images

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Nina was a breaking news reporter. She previously worked at Business Insider, The Boston Globe, and Boston.com.

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