Tens of thousands attend Pride Parade

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Saturday marked the end of another week-long of activities to celebrate the city’s LGBT community.

Dozens of floats and hundreds of participants took over the streets of downtown Indy to celebrate this year’s Cadillac Barbie IN Pride Parade.

Ed Stites of Greenwood said, “I came to show off my queer pride.”

Stites was one of tens of thousands of people who enjoyed Saturday’s Pride parade.

• PHOTOS: Indy’s Cadillac Barbie Parade

There was a lots of music, lots of dancing and lots of drag queens. Among them was the one for whom the parade is named: Cadillac Barbie.

Cadillac Barbie, whose real name is Gary Brackett, said, “It’s the one time of the year that we all come together. Gay people are just as diverse as straight people. We have the leather queens. We have the drag queens. We have gay athletes.”

Indianapolis LGBT community and supporters came together back in March when Governor Mike Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a bill many said gave businesses the right to discriminate based on sexual orientation.Governor Pence and other elected officials disagreed, but that did not stop thousands from protesting.

Stites said, “I hope that we get more allies and more who understand that we need their support to get through this time of crisis.”

Mayor Greg Ballard served as Grand Marshal for the Pride parade. This was the first time a sitting Indianapolis mayor has done so.Several weddings held following parade

After the parade, the event moved to the American Legion Mall for the Pride Fest. For the first time during the week-long event, same-sex marriages were legally allowed to take place. Organizers wanted to use the event to celebrate marriage equality for everyone.

The area where many of the weddings were held was named Niki Quasney after the Indiana woman who was involved in the marriage lawsuit against the state. She died of cancer earlier this year.