Tens of thousands of people participated in - and viewed - the iconic LGBT Pride March this year in New York City on Sunday, with rainbow banners and flags, posters and some extravagantly outfitted members of the LGBT community much in evidence.

The marchers moved along Fifth Avenue to Greenwich Village, as in each of the last 48 years, but the difference this time was that the parade included many little-known activists working in the trenches to advance the call for true social and political equality for gays, lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals.

The four designated grand marshals for the event - a role fulfilled on other occasions by assorted celebrities - were the American Civil Liberties Union and its New York branch; the first transsexual in the local fire department, Brooke Guinan; HIV/Aids activist Krishna Stone and Chinese LGBT leader Geng Le.

The focus is changing to what gay pride in New York should be, Brandon Holmes, the organizer for the New York ACLU branch, told EFE.

Holmes said that for organizations like his to be paid tribute to is a recognition of the "fieldwork" performed by anonymous people that reflects not only the change in policies but also in culture, in how people see the problems of the LGBT community.

New York's LGBT Pride March is one of the world's largest such events, and turning out to watch the procession were families with children, both older and younger couples, groups of friends and single people not necessarily belonging to the LGBT community, many of whom said they were proud to support equality for all people.

Meanwhile, "The election of Donald Trump has brought with it a new wave of targeted discrimination against the LGBT community, particularly the immigrants, people of color, and women among us. Now is a time for resistance and resilience," said James Esseks, the director of the ACLU's LGBT and HIV Project, in a statement issued before the event.