12 Best Moments from The NYC Pride Parade

June is LGBT Pride Month, and what better way to celebrate than the New York City Pride Parade? The first Gay Pride March was held in 1970, the year after the Stonewall Riots that helped mark the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. Since then, the parade has expanded to embrace anyone who cares about LGBT issues – gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, ally, genderqueer, and anything else you can think of.

The past year has been a huge one for gay rights in the U.S., with a record number of states either legalizing gay marriage or at least striking down their bans on it and transgender actress Laverne Cox gracing Time magazine's cover, among other achievements both big and small. To commemorate all that's been achieved, to raise visibility, to protest ongoing injustices, and just to have fun, thousands of people descended on New York City on Sunday, all along Fifth Avenue down to Greenwich Village, to witness and march in this year's celebration.

We've already explained why Pride Weekend is worth celebrating, so here's how to do it, courtesy of the New York City Pride Parade – and Laverne Cox, one of the event's grand marshals. Have you got your rainbow flag ready?

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And here's a livestream of the day's festivities!

Images: Empire State Building/Facebook, Image: NYC Pride (The Official NYC LGBT Pride Organizer)/Facebook, Ariana/Instagram, @mrapplegate713/Instagram, @joealtenau/Instagram, Kaori Kunita/Instagram, Danielle Chandler/Instagram, iwona/Instagram, @shanemcandrew/Instagram, Doug Keeler/Instagram, Zaza Reece/Instagram