This year's Pride festivities began with a look back.

"I think we are celebrating that our community has made a lot of progress, with some support from our allies, but boy, we've got a long way to go," said Glen Brown, the interim executive director of Pride Toronto.

The annual parade started 31 years ago, before some of this year’s participants were even born. Daniel, 24, said he was grateful for the strides that have been made - but admitted Toronto was something of an "urban bubble."

"I think it's fantastic that we have people ...who were willing to fight in order for us to be here today, and I'm really personally excited to see what Pride is going to be like 30 years from now," said Daniel.