NYC NOW - NYC Pride Grand Marshal Peppermint on Pride, Politics, and the Fight for Trans Rights

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

Performer Miss Peppermint found herself in late '90s NYC club culture, made history on RuPaul's Drag Race and Broadway, and is now one of four grand marshals at NYC Pride. She joins us to talk about the role NYC has played in her story, and what this year's Pride slogan "For All of Us" means when the T in LGBT feels under attack. Photo: Walter McBride/Getty Images -Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. Finding community through nightlife and performing in drag and sort of building this drag persona was really what allowed me to really sort of spread my wings as a trans woman. From New York City Nightlife to the world stage, Peppermint is an actress and advocate, and now a grand marshal for the New York City Pride March. On today's episode, we talk with her about the continued fight for LGBTQ plus

rights and how New York City helped her live unapologetically. But first, here's what's happening in our region. Some elected officials and immigration advocates across New York are condemning the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump administration to end immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians across the country. The six to three decision empowers the White House to end so-called temporary protected status for the two countries and could eventually mean returning immigrants to those nations. Here's Mayor Zoraamam Dhani. To have people, frankly, talk the world about freedom,

have their own freedom be put in jeopardy by the actions of a Supreme Court in a federal administration. It is not only cruel, it's something that we will not ever accept. U.S. citizenship and immigration data says New York State is home to one of the largest populations of TPS holders in the country. Research from Princeton University says an estimated 40,000 Haitian TPS holders alone live in the state. The votes are in, and tenants are celebrating.

The motion passes. New York City's Rink Guidelines Board is freezing the rent for tenants in at least a million stabilized apartments. Every year, the nine-member Rink Guidelines Board votes on how much landlords can raise rents for stabilized apartments. This year, for the first time since 2020, it voted for no increase. And just to summarize, these are apartments and buildings. with six or more units that were constructed before 1974.

That's WMYC's housing reporter, David Brand. He says the rent freeze also includes new buildings that get government tax breaks or subsidies. For most people living in those units, this means their rent will be the same for the next couple years. But we should note that this does not apply to tenants in non-rent-stabilized apartments that make up about half of the housing stock. Still, though, the vote is a big deal. The rent freeze fulfills a key campaign for,

pledge from Mayor Mumdani, who appointed six of the board's nine members. You may remember candidate Mumdani's viral freeze-de-rent slogan. David says that message really propelled his campaign. Since taking office, though, he really backed off his public calls for a freeze. That's likely to avoid legal questions over undue influence in their decision-making. This is supposed to be an independent board. But immediately following the vote, he said this was a, quote, historic victory and delivered the relief tenants need.

It's been a long road towards the city's rent freeze, but David says the vote brought some last-minute drama from the board. One of its members, Christina Smith, who represents landlords, resigned from the board the day before the vote, saying it had crossed a legal line. She was appointed by former mayor Eric Adams. David says her absence Thursday night didn't affect the vote, but it did add more intrigue to what's already a pretty dramatic event. So Smith says she was quitting because the rent freeze was predetermined in that all the data analysis and public hearings that the board had over the past few months were just theater. She also says the board crossed a, quote, legal line, but she didn't elaborate on that. David says Christina Smith did hint at a legal challenge.

We'll have to wait to see how that plays out. But that wasn't the only twist. The other landlord representative on the board actually voted in favor of the rent freeze, saying that it will be. good for owners. But David actually talked with some landlords about it. They say complaints are going to rise. Building conditions are just going to get worse as their own revenue dwindles. They say they don't have the money in many occasions to make repairs or fix problems in buildings. And this is just going to add to that. As for tenants, 24-year-old Emma Rehek, who lives in Washington Heights, says all of her expenses are rising. And a rent-freeze will allow her to stay in New York City.

that me and my neighbors are going to get displaced. A rent freeze means that we have a fighting chance to stay. In other news, it's New York City Pride Weekend, and the streets in Greenwich Village will soon look a bit more colorful. Local crews are painting a rainbow crosswalk at Christopher Street and 7th Avenue. That's right in front of the historic gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. Pride Weekend hits full swing Saturday

with a youth pride event scheduled for the South Street Seaport and the Dyke March down Fifth Avenue starting at 5th. P.m. The main Pride March and all the associated festivities is Sunday with some great weather ahead for the event. Speaking of Pride, we'll talk with one of the Grand Marshals of this year's Pride March. Stick around for our conversation with actress and LGBTQ plus advocate, Pepperment. That's after a quick break. Welcome back. From underground New York City nightlife to global visibility, Miss Peppermint has blossomed as a trans icon. The artists and activists will be one of four Grand Marshals for NYC Pride this year. She rose to fame in 2017 as runner-up in the ninth season of Rupal's drag race. But since then, Peppermint has broken down barriers across theater and social advocacy,

upholding the legacy of trans women of color who were at the Stonewall Uprising decades ago. Pepperment, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you for having me, Jene. It's so good to be there. WNYC. Yes, yes. Congratulations to you. You on being a grand marshal this year, that's pretty cool.

Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's a major honor. And I'd say it's about time, but it also is the perfect time. Yeah, they got with it. They got with it. When you hear words like culture shaker and change maker, did you ever think that those words would be used to describe you growing up?

I still don't even think that those words are describing me. I don't know. Is anybody saying that? Yes. Are the drama? You know, I don't like it when anybody feels like they're being treated unfairly or when anybody is treated unfairly. I know that sounds kind of woo-woo to a lot of people. But being a woman who has several strikes against me in terms of marginalized identities,

my blackness, my transness, my womanness. makes me a minority. And it also means that, you know, I have many opportunities to fight for my own rights if I want to and the rights of other people who are like me. And so because of that, I don't usually have the opportunity to sit and be like, huh, look at this great thing that I did two weeks ago. I just, I'm like, girl, what's next? Yeah. You got to keep those boxing gloves on, right? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. You are originally from Pennsylvania. But New York City, we have happily adopted you. You attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

How has New York City helped you be your true authentic self? I want to go back to 1998 when you first came to the Big Apple. You know, it's funny. New York City wasn't even on my radar. Really? I just knew that I wanted to go to college, not in Delaware. which is where I grew up, even though I'm from Pennsylvania. I didn't even think that I'd have a conventional college experience

because my high school experience was just so, so strange. I just didn't get good grades. I wasn't really engaged that much. I was very much interested in the drama club, but not so much math club. And I was trying to dodge the bullies in the hall. And so I was like, well, where can I go that's just going to have a bunch of people like me that I feel like I can just be myself? That's all I wanted to do.

And I'm really grateful for that because that was my ticket into New York. And I loved being able to experience an arts school where I was able to study Broadway, not math, and get my certification and musical theater performance. And so I was able to easily get live on the Upper West Side and then get down to all of the famous nightclubs, like the tunnel, the limelight. These are really popular places throughout the 80s. the 90s. So I would go to school during the day and then go to the club at night. And I loved it. That sounds right. Yeah. And it opened up such a world for me because I was able to just really sort of find myself and connect to myself as a queer adult and as a trans woman in a way

that I wouldn't have been able to in any other capacity that I can think of, at least not at that time. I want to get back to 2012. Okay. So in 2012, you transatlose. Can you talk about that process and that experience? Yeah, you know, finding community through nightlife and sort of building this drag persona was really what allowed me to really sort of spread my wings as a trans woman because I was able to find acceptance with community, find other trans people, find my own voice as an entertainer and sort of like what I wanted entertainment to mean for me. and nightlife really gave me that gift to really be able to grow as a woman

underneath the cover of drag so that it was safe because, you know, who doesn't love a drag show? And so everybody was like, yes, and that was pretty much the only realm that I would like receive applause while I was expressing who I really was. With family, I would get pushback,

with strangers, on the street, it's not the same as like people who go to see you, they pay to come see your show. And so 2012 came along and I, that's when my transness sort of took a front seat in my life for the first time. Because I was realizing that I had everything in my life that I wanted except for my personal identity being really like public and this who I am.

And luckily around the time, Governor Cuomo had signed, I'm grateful that he signed a mandate, basically saying that trans-related health care, gender-affirming care, needs to be covered on health insurance. And that started in 2012, and then my life sort of bloomed and blossomed from there. When you think about queer history here in New York City, what comes to mind? So much. I mean, New York City certainly either is.

or has been the center of really the world, the country, center of commerce, center of culture, center of so much. And queer people have a big connection to that legacy. Obviously, the Stonewall Uprising, whatever you want to call it, revolution is known for sort of the beginning of the modern gay rights liberation movement right in the heart of the fabulous Greenwich Village. in the 60s, but even before that, queer people have had a major sort of contribution to history, even if it wasn't advocating for our own rights.

And that's just like one piece of queer history that I'm really interested in sort of going back and sort of excavating. Yeah, that's really, really cool. Who are your heroes? My heroes have changed over time. But I would say Janet Jackson and Prince are high up on that list. The theme for NYC Pride this year is for all of us. I'm wondering, what does that mean to you? Well, I mean, quite literally, you know, like in the words of the great Marsha P. Johnson,

sort of the godmother of the modern gay rights liberation movement, you know, she said very famously, there's no pride for some of us without liberation for all of us. And that rings true today as it did then. And I think it's really relevant because we're seeing an erasure of those things. by this current administration. When seeing the word transgender being erased, the T being erased from the official government website that is supposed to represent the National Stonewall Monument,

when seeing the pride flag being taken down, then being put back up, when seeing the contributions of black and African-Americans being erased off of the ships and the walls and the halls, all of that means that we haven't really realized the American dream for every one of us. And so beyond pride, it's important that everyone has liberation. It can't mean bodily autonomy for some people,

but not for people who are looking for reproductive justice and access to reproductive care. It can't mean the rich people can have whatever they need to have done, but the poor people can't. It can't mean that. It has to mean equality and justice for all of us. If they can do that for some of us, then they can do that for all of us.

So it works in both ways. So unless there's pride for all of us, then it doesn't exist. That's peppermint. Thank you so much for joining me. Before I let you go, peppermint, what are you wearing for the Pride March? What does a Grand Marshal wear? What does a Grand Marshal wear? Well, I went back and forth.

Now, I was thinking, I'm considering all leather, and because I want to blend in with the Dykes on Bikes, who famously are the first group to March every year in the March. But I might end up going with something that feels more like a classic Grand Marshal sort of drum major sort of vibe. We'll see. Okay. Okay. Well, looking forward to seeing you at the Pride March.

Thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. And thank you for listening to NYC now. I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.