Heavy rain didn't dampen spirit at Capital Pride parade

The wet weather couldn't dampen the spirit at this year's Capital Pride parade in Ottawa as hundreds of people lined the parade route in Centretown Sunday to celebrate diversity and show support for the LGBT community.

This year's parade had a special significance for John Aubry because just two days earlier he proposed to his future husband.

"I've lived through the 80s, the 90s. I've lived through the AIDS crisis...I've buried a lot of friends," said Aubry. "I never thought that I would see the time when this kind of diversity would be accepted in this city."

Mayor Jim Watson rode alongside other city councillors in the parade that toured up Gladstone Avenue to Kent Street and then down Laurier Avenue. back to Bank Street.

Police officers were also well represented in the parade wearing their uniforms, smiling and waving to the crowds.

Police participation in Pride parades was in the spotlight last month, when members of Toronto's Black Lives Matter movement briefly halted Toronto's Pride parade. They demanded organizers no longer include police floats in the parade.

The chair of Ottawa's pride festival, Tammy Dopson, said organizers had no intention of excluding anyone.

She said it was important for everyone to show up this year in light of the shooting in Orlando in June where 50 people were killed and 53 others injured in a gay nightclub.

"That was a reminder of the most horrific kind that we are not where we need to be in terms of equal rights," said Dopson.

"So I think showing up and supporting and celebrating where we've been, where we are and where we have to be is very important."

Lily Lachapelle agreed as she huddled under an umbrella proudly wearing a rainbow flag.

"I feel like the LGBT community as a whole for so long has been so scared to be who they are and to be out and to be proud and so to be able to do things like this is awesome," she said.