JERSEY CITY -- Three transgender activists from around New Jersey, including two children whose stories sparked outpourings of love from supporters and vitriol from others, were celebrated today at the annual raising of the rainbow flag at City Hall.

Joe Maldonado, who at 8 years old because the first transgender member of the Boy Scouts in February, and Rebekah Bruesehoff, the 10-year-old transgender girl from Sussex County whose appearance at a Jersey City rally garnered national attention the same month, were honored along with Carmen Carrera, a one-time "RuPaul's Drag Race" contestant who later came out as trans.

Carrera, who hails from Bergen County, said she was overwhelmed with the honor, given by the organizers of the city's annual LGBT festival.

"It's an indescribable feeling," she said. "It reinspires me to keep going because, gosh, we have so much work to do."

Jersey City's LGBT "pride week" runs for nearly two weeks and includes a bar crawl on Saturday, a screening of an Armistead Maupin documentary on Aug. 22 and an all-day festival on Saturday, Aug. 26. Carrera is the festival's grand marshal.

Jonathan Lucas, chair of Hudson Pride Connections Center, said the focus of this year's festival would be "on the T in LGBT" -- transgender men and women -- who Lucas said "still come under fire."

"Even in a community that's as peaceful as Jersey City ... there's still that fear of being brutalizing, being attacked, as well as just being disrespected," he said.

Today's ceremony ended with two flags being raised at City Hall: the rainbow flag and the pink, blue and white transgender flag.

Joe, who lives in Secaucus, joined a Maplewood Boy Scouts troop after being banned from a Cub Scout group in his hometown. His mother, Kristie, said today's honor, which came with a trophy, was "amazing."

"This was the best award," Joe told The Jersey Journal. "All the other ones are pretty nice, too, but that one's the most colorful."

Rebekah was not present today. Her mother, Jamie, told the crowd of about three dozen people gathered inside the City Council chambers today that her daughter was at camp, taking a much-needed break.

The family was on the receiving end of hateful messages after Rebekah's story went national, she said as she held up Rebekah's photograph.

"She needed a chance to step away from that," Jamie Bruesehoff said.

Carrera said the world has come a long way toward accepting the transgender community since she came out in 2012. She said she remembers getting thousands of messages then from fans thanking her for being so open.

"I didn't realize how much we needed visibility until then," she said.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.