An elementary school-age transgender girl served as the youngest-ever grand marshal at a major Orlando, Florida, LGBTQ+ Pride parade this past weekend.
Amid the backdrop of a culture war that has seen conservatives in the Sunshine State target transgender children and adults with restrictive laws and derisive rhetoric, 11-year-old Dempsey Jara was in the spotlight as grand marshal of Orlando’s Come Out With Pride event on Saturday.
A video shared to Dempsey’s mom-managed Instagram account on Sunday shows her seated on the back of an open-top car with a puppy on her lap and both of her parents seated in front.
Dempsey, wearing a princess dress and pink heart-shaped sunglasses, is shown blowing kisses to spectators and waving as the parade progresses.
A transgender Pride flag is pictured during a demonstration in West Hollywood, California, on April 9, 2023. An 11-year-old transgender girl served as the youngest-ever grand marshal of a major Orlando, Florida, LGBTQ+ Pride parade over the weekend.
ALLISON DINNER/AFP
“Yesterday was the best day of my life!” a message accompanying the video reads. “It’s not easy to be a constant target of hate, but I remain visible because I want other Trans kids to know there is such #joy in being your authentic self. Thank you, #Orlando, for showering me with so much love! #bewhoyouare @comeoutwithpride.”
While addressing the crowd on stage at Lake Eola Park, Dempsey reportedly told parade-goers that publicly celebrating her identity was about transgender kids “standing tall” in the face of hostility.
“Being transgender is not about a choice,” she said, according to The Orlando Sentinel. “It’s about being true to myself. It’s about embracing who I am even when the world tries to tell me otherwise. It’s about standing tall in my identity even when it’s really hard.”
It is not clear how many people attended the Pride parade, although the park was reportedly “packed” and over 200,000 people had been expected to attend.
Those who took part included U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost, who represents part of Orlando and is the youngest member of Congress, and former state lawmaker Carlos Guillermo Smith, who was the first openly LGBTQ+ Latino to serve as a Florida representative.
Dempsey’s mother Jaime Jara, a teacher, told the Sentinel that her daughter had “been on this journey since she was 5 and she’s living her best life,” having declared from a very young age, “I’m a girl in my heart and my brain.”
Jaime, who appeared on the Max reality series We’re Here alongside Dempsey earlier this year, said that Dempsey had “always gravitated toward girl things, girls’ toys,” despite not having “any of that stuff at home” since both of her siblings are older brothers.
Newsweek reached out for additional comment to Come Out With Pride, GLADD, the office of Frost, and Smith via email on Monday evening.
Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that bans children in the state from access to gender-affirming medical care, as well as limiting access for adults.
Anti-transgender activists have argued against the validity of transgender identity and claim that gender-affirming care is harmful and carries a substantial risk of regret, especially among children.
However, studies have indicated that transgender regret rates are very low, with a large majority of those who de-transition doing so because of issues like family pressure or being treated poorly in society.
The U.S. medical establishment, including most major medical organizations like American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, has overwhelmingly backed gender-affirming care as the only effective treatment for both transgender adults and children.
Like all medical interventions involving children, parents consult with doctors to determine a course of treatment for their transgender children. Age-appropriate care for young children is usually limited to social transition, including changing names and choosing different clothing or hairstyle.
Older children may go on reversible puberty-blocking medication. The same medications have been used for decades in cases of precocious puberty and are generally considered safe and effective.
Surgical interventions, especially surgeries involving genitals, are nearly unheard of for minors in the U.S., despite being a frequent culture war topic of discussion involving transgender youth.
DeSantis has also signed a ban on the transgender community accessing public bathrooms that align with their gender, along with restrictions on pro-transgender or LGBTQ+ speech, such as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.
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