Thousands of people lined Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo on Sunday for the annual Pride Parade. It kicks off a month of celebrations supporting the local LGBTQ+ community.

More than 100 organizations participated in the parade that went through the Elmwood Village. This year's event marks 50 years since the Stonewall Riots in New York City that helped launched the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Spectators celebrated what pride means to them.

“It means inclusion, understanding, love, being able to be comfortable with who you are,” Valerie Ingold said.

“It just means I get to come out and be myself, not be judged by anybody, Nicholas Karcher said. "It’s nice to go out and have a community surrounding you."

“It's a celebration and protest for our rights and to remember that there is still stuff going on in this country,” Caelen Crawley said.

From colorfully decorated floats and signs to people showing their pride through what they wore, people came out to celebrate and honor history. 

"Well we’ve been fighting for our rights, we are still fighting for our rights,” Ingold said. “It’s been 50 years so it’s still a struggle across the U.S. and world and so that history is still evolving unfortunately. It’s important to still remember where we can from and where we still need to go."

This month also marks four years since same sex marriage was legalized in all fifty states.