Rainbows fill New York's streets as gay pride parade celebrates 50 year anniversary of Stonewall riots

Rainbow-colored flags, balloons, feathers and fringe filled the streets of New York on Sunday as the city commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots with its annual gay pride parade.

Thousands turned out for the event, cheering on LGBTQ activists as they passed in elaborates floats and costumes.

This year's parade marks the 50th anniversary of the LGBTQ rights movement, which began in 1969 with the so-called Stonewall uprising.

Early on June 28, 1969, patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar called the Stonewall Inn rose up in defiance of police harassment, triggering days of rioting. Their resistance gave birth to the national and global movement for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people.

Gay pride activists and supporters all over the world have been celebrating the day with parades and events during the month of June, which is known as LGBT Pride Month.